World War II History in Colwyn Bay...

A Taster of War Time in Colwyn Bay, just because it is rather interesting:

The Ministry of Food: a vital contribution of Colwyn Bay during wartime

Never before in its short history had the Victorian seaside resort of Colwyn Bay had such an important role. In 1940 the town made an extraordinary contribution in housing the staff and manning the offices of the Ministry of Food. It was vital to ensure the fair and equal distribution of food during the war, and although there were many regional food offices all over the country  this was enabled and overseen  from the headquarters at Colwyn Bay.

The civil servants had left their offices in Whitehall and assembled in Colwyn Bay to safely carry out the Food Defence Plans,  converting the town to the Headquarters of the Ministry of Food for  Britain. If the buildings  they took over as their offices had been devastated by bombing and key staff lost then what…the organisation of the  food supplies would have been thrown into chaos. Food is a vital weapon in wartime.

Mount Royal Typing Pool

‘No weapon ever invented is more deadly than hunger, it can spike guns, destroy courage, and break the will of the most resolute peoples’  Land at War 1939–1944,  HMSO, 1945

The organisation comprised not only of the five thousand civil servants evacuated from London, but also of so many locals, young people straight from school, as well as women recruited for employment to form an army of clerks in an insurmountable task. This brought them many new work opportunities and prospects. There were so many departments with titles like ‘Enforcement’ (making sure everyone obeyed the rules) Oils and Fats, Animal Feedstuffs, British Restaurants, Bacon and Ham, Butter and Cheese and so many more, as listed  in a directory compiled by one of the former staff. The locals  supported the administration. Departments  liaised with all the commonwealth countries in the importing of food, which was at risk of being torpedoed at sea en route at any time. In those days there were few telephone lines and hardly any paper. What those civil servants and clerks achieved was not far short of miraculous, headed in 1940 by the very pragmatic leadership of Lord Woolton, a businessman from Liverpool.

The people of Colwyn Bay reacted with mixed feeling to the complete change in character of their town, which had  increased in population by 25% overnight, and of the sudden requisitioning of most of the larger hotels such as The Metropole ( which housed administrative Finance) and many boarding houses as well as all available buildings to use  as office space and accommodation. There was a mixing of cultures with the influx of southern civil servants, evacuees from the cities, some refugees from abroad and some very poor children from Liverpool. It opened eyes, the town was disrupted, transformed  but also energised and enlivened, some say it was changed  irreversibly.

Many of the civil servants employed in those days have been interviewed and their reminiscences have been recorded. Read the story of the first executives coming to investigate prior to the removal from Whitehall, with the story of Albert Rigby at the information bureau.

It seemed from the evidence of some of our older residents of Colwyn Bay that half the population of the town had worked at the Ministry of Food in their youth.