Garlieston goes to war

Day One of my holiday in Galloway turned out to be special for the little town of Garlieston, where we had our holiday cottage; it was their Military Weekend. After eating a hearty breakfast we went to investigate.

I'm no pacifist and accept that wars sometimes have to be fought to thwart the evil intentions of misguided men, though I confess to feeling a bit uneasy about turning war into a 'fun' event. Nevertheless, I congratulate the good folk of Garlieston on staging a fascinating celebration, with lots of nostalgia for those of us who remember the days when we paid our way in pounds, shillings and pence, television was black & white and very fuzzy, and no-one had ever heard of mobile phones.

Some of the military items were impressive, such as this full-size mock-up of a WW1 tank, but I preferred to concentrate on more 'peaceful' things...

... such as this old Morris with a Cornish registration. Like me, it had travelled a long way to this Scottish field. I was beginning to feel at home.

Nearby was a lovely Austin A30. Mum and dad had one like this, only ours was blue and (of course) had a Cornish registration number – TRL933 – and mum called it "Tra-lah". How's that for a memory? I was struck by how small it was, contrary to my childhood memories, and longed to sit in the back seat and imagine mum at the wheel, but the owner was nowhere to be found.

When we moved into our present house in 1992, one of the first things we did was to dig up the lawn in the back garden and turn it over to vegetables. It never occurred to either of us that we were emulating our parents and grandparents, who had been encouraged to do the same thing during the dark days of WW2. Wisely, this Land Girl and her tea-drinking partner were content for the grass to grow around them.

The design for this field kitchen apparently dates back to the Crimean War and, amazingly, was still in use until the Argentinians sent the last lot to the ocean floor during the Falklands War. The 'modern' version is in the background.

Garlieston has one great claim to wartime fame as it was here that the Mulberry Harbours were developed, that contributed greatly to the success of the Allied invasion in the weeks following D-Day. A model of the famous floating harbour had been set up in the school...

... and this plaque, on the waterfront, records the achievement.

The story of the Mulberry Harbours will feature again in a later post.