“Here
one gets really in touch with the men who have been out ever since the war started,
and who have been up in the trenches several times. They come down here to the
base camp for a rest, after having been out at the front. They much appreciate anything we do for them. They all say it is one of the best canteens,
or, in fact, the best canteen they have come across over on this side.
Cigarettes
they never seem to have too many of, and the amount of “Woodbines” that “Tommy”
consumes in incredible. We have to limit
the packets to two or else we should always be out of stock. Peppermints and cough lozenges they also
love, and the latter are especially acceptable, as so many have bad coughs and
colds with being out in the damp so much.
We
have been very busy at the stall lately as a good many troops have been going
through. Just before a train starts for the firing line, we have to feed as
many as a thousand or fifteen hundred in about an hour. It is what we call a “rush”, and one sees
only a mass of khaki and a blur of faces, all clamouring for food or drinks on
the other side of the counter, while one hands over sandwiches, cake, and
coffee as quick or quicker than possible.
When
Boy Scouts came through the other day, I was able to make them up a parcel of
various things for them to take in the train with them. It is a thirty-six hours’ journey to the
front from here (very slow trains, of course).
I am
on night duty this week, so am writing this at 3 a.m. – which is rather a slack
time, as only a few men come in between 1 and 5 a.m. However, we make a point of having the stall
open night and day, so that the men know there is some place where they can
always get a hot drink – of course, the men on guard in the station here come
in at all hours. Also, there is always a
fire – or at least a hot stove – round which they can sit, and we provide as
many illustrated papers as possible, and forms and tables, where they can read
or write. An officer told me the other
day that a warm place where they can write is so much appreciated by the
men. We can never have too many illustrated
papers – so if any of you have any you have read and finished with, they are
most acceptable.”
From the School Magazine of Huyton College, 1915, page 25.
Huyton
College or, to give the school its correct title, The Liverpool College for
Girls, Huyton, was founded in 1894 as an independent day and boarding school
for girls and was a sister school to Liverpool College. Huyton College merged with Liverpool College
on 27th July 1993, shortly before its centenary.
