Sowerbutt's Guilt

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "The politicians and the papers talked about the Dunkirk spirit during those terrible winter months of 1947. Load of tosh. We just did what we could to survive. The Tabby ran a soup kitchen and some of the old people slept there for warmth.

"Distributing food and coal was the problem. Jimmy had food in his larders and managed to get coal dumps organised on the bomb sites. But getting the stuff to families was hard.
"Most of the factories had closed, the trolleys had stopped, schools had shut with the electricity cut off. He got the lads digging their way through the snow drifts, taking bags of food and barrows of coal to people. He managed to get a load of blankets from somewhere.
"The Tabby drew up a list of old people and they were helped out. Jimmy was very upset by the death of one of the old dears who looked after a couple of his houses. Blamed himself."
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA