Northern Ireland How We Won the War


Northern Ireland

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September 3rd, 1939, and families all over the country flock to their radios.

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ARCHIVE: I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received,

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and that, consequently, this country is at war with Germany.

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In that brief moment, life in our country changed forever.

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World War II had begun,

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but victory wouldn't be assured by military might alone.

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The Blitz, evacuation, rationing, the loss of loved ones -

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the war on the home front meant that everyone had to do their bit.

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From the country's women, who took on everything -

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farming, factory work, even flying Spitfires -

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to the nation's auxiliary firemen who worked through the terror of countless air raids,

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this is the story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

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This is How We Won The War.

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For the next two weeks, I'll be criss-crossing the UK.

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Region by region, I'll be exploring how different parts of the country

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made unique contributions to the war effort here at home.

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I'll be looking at the lives of ordinary citizens

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and the incredible efforts they went to to help us win the War.

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I'm starting here in Northern Ireland.

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It's a part of the country that's often overlooked,

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yet a place of vital importance to our eventual victory in World War II.

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On today's programme, devastated by the Blitz,

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the people of Belfast unite as one...

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Their mother and I lay under the table,

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and the wee girl lay with her arms around her mammy and me.

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We had a community spirit because we all became like a big family.

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..the traditional techniques used to produce materials

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for hundreds of thousands of British uniforms in the War...

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That looks absolutely terrifying, Eugene.

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I'm amazed that you haven't lost any fingers over the years.

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..and a Spitfire a day keeps the Nazis away -

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how the people of Northern Ireland raised enough money

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to build 17 of the iconic fighters.

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The Spitfire captured the imagination.

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They were queuing up on Royal Avenue waiting to come in

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and deposit their contributions to the fund.

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When war broke out in September 1939, most people living here

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thought they would be an unlikely target for Hitler.

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And it is easy to see why.

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To the south was the Republic of Ireland -

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they, of course, were neutral -

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and to the east, well, the rest of Great Britain,

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with its army and anti-aircraft defences.

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The idea the German air force would even get this far seemed pretty unlikely.

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The theory was simple - if you were in Northern Ireland, you were safe.

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But it was an assumption that was to cost the people of Belfast dearly.

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AIR RAID SIREN

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A year after war broke out, Germany began a relentless bombardment

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of industrial and civilian centres across the UK.

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In just nine months, the Blitz claimed 60,000 British lives.

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London, Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool -

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just some of the cities targeted by the Luftwaffe because of their

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industrial importance, devastated by ruthless bombing campaigns.

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But despite the fact Belfast was also a hub of industry,

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producing 140 warships and millions of shells for the war,

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Northern Ireland failed to grasp the scale of the threat.

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A failure historian Brian Barton has looked at in detail.

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Now, Brian, tell me, how prepared was Belfast

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for the onset of the War?

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Well, it was probably the least well-prepared major city

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or port in the United Kingdom.

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Very few people had been evacuated out of the city,

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80,000 children were still there at the time of the Blitz.

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It had 22 anti-aircraft guns -

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Liverpool had over 100 at the time of the Blitz.

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It had one fighter squadron, based at Aldergrove airport,

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of Hurricane fighters, only equipped, however,

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for daytime fighting, not for night time-operations.

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There was an assumption that Belfast would never be attacked -

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too far away, too remote, too insignificant.

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Belfast had been hit once before, when bombs fell on the docks

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and industrial targets, killing 13 people.

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But on the night of 15th April, 1941,

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the first of three devastating attacks struck the city.

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It was to become known as The Easter Raid,

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and some of the details of the tragedy are held here at the Linenhall library.

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So, Brian, what are we looking at here?

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Well, this is an ARP message book kept at a control centre -

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the control centre in this case was for D District.

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It covers the night of the Easter Tuesday raid, 15th and 16th of April.

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Here we are, look, "Fire reported at Hanover Street - HQ fire brigade have arrived."

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These are little moments in time that these messages

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have captured, aren't they? Endless, endless entries.

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You get a sense of the pattern of the raid -

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the early reports are of incendiary bombs

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and the first part of the raid was mainly incendiary bombs, the first 20-25 minutes.

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Then subsequent to that it's high explosives,

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then later on, about two o'clock, a further wave of incendiaries.

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'It's estimated that between 800 and 1,000 people

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'were killed in that raid.'

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It's believed no other city apart from London,

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lost as many people in one single night

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as Belfast did on that night.

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The main weight of the bombings - something like 200 tonnes of bombs,

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30,000 incendiaries - fell almost exclusively on working class,

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densely populated, poorly constructed terraced housing.

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10.25, and it says, "Rescue squad military,

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"in Strathdene Street, entrance by Halliday's Road,

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"two dead taken away, two injured to hospital.

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"One dead (?) in debris, warden still digging,

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"one ambulance required in half an hour."

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I mean, there is a snapshot of what was happening

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to try and resolve another terrible situation in this location.

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It's just one of thousands.

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What was the overall effect on this city, on this population of 400,000?

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I think the main effect was one which was totally unforeseen

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by the government, that there was a crash evacuation across the city,

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people in fear and panic fleeing from the city.

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They did so because they were now aware that Belfast was a target.

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They did so because they recognised,

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they appreciated just how utterly undefended they were.

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Those written reports of the fire and bomb damage

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are a very graphic reminder of the horrors

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that the people of Belfast had to face here over 70 years ago.

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But they are a list of events, and no matter how tragic,

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they can never get you quite as close to the truth

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as an account from somebody who was actually there.

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Emily McGill from West Belfast was 31 years old when the attacks started.

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She vividly remembers how the raids affected everyone's lives.

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Before the raids started,

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the Shankill Road would have been empty,

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people were all in their house for the night,

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and as soon as the sirens went there was hundreds

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coming up the Shankill Road to go to the hills.

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Cos you were safe there.

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And when we got up to the mountains we lay in close to the mountains.

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One night we were there and the Germans came in,

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and Belfast just went up in fire.

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Like thousands of men all over the UK, Emily's husband Bertie

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had joined the Auxiliary Fire Service.

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He drove the fire engine, you know, from work if there was fires.

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One night my husband was going out as usual

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and I say to him, "I wish you didn't go tonight."

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He says, "Why? That's not like you."

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"There's just this feeling over me, I just don't want you to go out."

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"Ach," he says, "don't be ridiculous."

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He says, "Come on and I'll leave you round to the air raid shelter."

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Belfast had air raid shelters for only a quarter of the population.

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Emily and her husband found their local one full to capacity.

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When we got there, there was so many people outside it

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he said to me, "It's no use standing here."

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So him and I went up to the park,

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which was just across the road, and he said to me, "Lie face down."

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And we heard the German airplanes coming over,

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and the next thing I was hit.

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You know, just like as if a ton of bricks had fallen on you,

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and I said to my husband, "I'm hit."

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He says, "No, you're not, it was just the vibration of the ground."

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But I said, "No, I feel the blood."

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I felt the blood running down my back and down my arm.

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The shrapnel came through the park and went through my back.

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He said he thought he was going to lose me,

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and I didn't think I would live myself, so I prepared myself to die.

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Elsewhere in the city, Moya Woodside kept a diary

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of her Blitz experiences.

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The wife of a Belfast surgeon, she was also part

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of a unique experiment called "Mass Observation".

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Set up two years before the War, the project asked hundreds

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of members of the public to keep records of their day-to-day lives.

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An archive of almost 300,000 pages of personal writings

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are held here at the University of Sussex.

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Today, diaries like Moya's provide a unique insight

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into the wartime lives of everyday citizens.

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"The bombs started falling at 10.45.

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"I went to bed, tried to sleep, but this proved impossible."

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"Nazi planes kept coming back and coming back,

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"for all the world like some giant swarm of insects

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"whose drone was only ineffectually interrupted by bangs and crashes."

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"This was civilisation in 1941 - sitting shivering,

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"bored and frightened in a cubby hole at 3.30am."

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But in the face of such terror, the people of Northern Ireland were pulling together.

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We had a community spirit because we all became like a big family.

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There was an air raid, and the man two doors up,

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he came to my house and I was on my own and he took me with them.

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They had a little girl, and their mother and I lay under the table,

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and the wee girl lay with her arms around her mammie and me,

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and she sang, "When they sound the last all-clear,

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"how happy, my darling, we'll be.

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"When they turn on the lights, those dark lonely nights,

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"will just be a memory.

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"No more we'll be apart, always together, sweetheart,

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"for the peace bells will ring, and the whole world will sing,

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"when they sound the last all-clear."

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While millions of men were away fighting,

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those left behind tried to carry on with life as best they could.

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But the impact of the War was felt everywhere, in all sorts of ways.

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The story of Belfast during the War -

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like so many other towns and cities across the UK -

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is of a community really pulling together for the common good.

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I'm on my way to the zoo here to find out a little bit more

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about one such story that involved a rescue -

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with a difference.

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Now, it's not every day that you get to drive through a zoo,

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looking for a bloke called Alyn.

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What have we got there, monkeys?

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Oh, there are the gorillas.

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It's a nice zoo, this.

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There are the chimpanzees.

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Now, somebody said go right at the penguins -

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there's the penguins.

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What a great place to navigate round.

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'After a few wrong turns, I finally track down my quarry -

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'curator of elephants Alyn Cairns.'

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Alyn, how long has the zoo been here in Belfast?

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Well, the zoo was built in 1934,

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and it was built as part of a pleasure complex,

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and it was one of the most modern zoos of that time.

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So, five years after it opens the War comes along and things change.

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What happened was, at that time it wasn't the MOD,

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it was the Public Ministry of Security,

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and they actually gave us orders to destroy some of the animals,

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actually quite a lot of the animals - 33 animals in total.

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'The order was designed to deal with the wartime cost

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'of food for the zoo and the fear that bomb damage might allow

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'dangerous animals to escape into the city.'

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As a zookeeper yourself, Alyn, the idea of putting down

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the animals in your care is probably impossible to imagine?

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Absolutely horrendous to think if I was faced with that decision,

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and also for all of our staff here I think it would just be

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so difficult, and actually at the time we do know

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from records that we have that Dick Foster was the head keeper,

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and indeed he had to stay there while the Ministry were doing this,

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and he was in tears, you know, and it took a lot of consoling for him.

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And I think it actually had quite an effect on him,

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because not long after the War he actually left the zoo.

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During the war a volunteer at the zoo, Denise Austen,

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took unusual steps to ensure a baby elephant was saved from the cull list.

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Alyn took me to meet her relative, David Ramsey.

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It was a baby elephant called Sheila.

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She and Sheila were very great friends

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and I think the two of them had bonded.

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And, really, Denise became the surrogate mother for Sheila.

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Denise was worried, I think,

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that the elephant would be upset by the anti-aircraft gun fire

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that was being generated round the Cave hill here,

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worried about the raids and that the animal might become nervous, etc,

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and become mentally upset and have to be put down.

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Initially, when the air raid sirens came on she'd would've come up

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from her home to the zoo to be with Sheila to comfort her,

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but that was a lot of effort, getting out at maybe one or two

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in the morning to come up here, so Denise, being a very pragmatic woman,

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just decided the much easier option - why not take the elephant home with you?

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It would be pretty unusual.

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A cocker spaniel in the back garden might be more normal,

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but they had a fairly big coachhouse just adjoining the house,

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and the elephant only had a few hundred yards to walk

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from the main gate here down through my grandfather's farm

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to the back of Denise's house.

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And then, if the air raid sirens went out,

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Denise just got out of bed, walked out the back door

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into the coachhouse and stood with Sheila, stroking her ear

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and talking to her, massaging her trunk until the all clear was sounded.

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And how long did it go on for before she got rumbled?

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Quite a long period of time, probably around 18 months

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or two years before the incident where the elephant actually chased a small dog.

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It chased a small dog through a number of boundary fences of local householders,

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and it was only when they approached the zoo to be compensated

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for the damage to their property that the head zookeeper, Mr Foster, realised.

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How would you summarise Denise's actions?

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I think she was a remarkable woman.

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I think to be able to spirit an animal weighing over a ton

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out of the zoo at night under the watchful eyes of the head keeper, Dick Foster,

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and get it away and back each day without anybody saying to her,

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"Denise, what are you doing?"

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Just remarkable. Couldn't be done. I think she's a form of magician.

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All over the country, incredible stories like Denise and Sheila's

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encapsulate the sense of spirit that got us through the Blitz.

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And as the RAF battled to prevent Germany dominating the skies,

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the Spitfire - perhaps one of the most important aircraft of World War II -

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earned a special place in the hearts of Northern Ireland.

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In August 1940, The Belfast Telegraph - the voice of the city -

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launched the 100,000 Shillings Fund,

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a donation scheme to fund the purchase of a Spitfire.

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But the people of Northern Ireland weren't happy with just one.

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The heroism of our troops on the front lines is well-documented,

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but as a young reporter with the paper, Malcolm Brodie's job

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was to capture the incredible stories of those making donations to the Fund here at home.

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The Spitfire captured the imagination.

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They were queuing up on Royal Avenue

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waiting to come in and deposit their contribution to the Fund.

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The stories that they brought with them were, invariably,

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one relating to their efforts to raise this money.

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One guy, I understood, sold his donkey to get money for it.

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Kids who knew nothing about war

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decided to stage street parties, all for the Spitfire Fund.

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And a lot of catchphrases, like "A Spitfire a day keeps the Nazis away."

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I remember on one particular occasion a woman came in and she had this parcel.

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And she opened it up and in it were her son's effects.

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He had been killed just before the evacuation at Dunkirk,

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and in it was his wallet with two fivers in it,

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and she said, "I'm giving that to the Fund,

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"I'm giving that in memory of my boy."

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There was a fascination amongst the public as to the amount the Fund was raising

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and our billboards gave the figure every night.

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And we had a huge tobacco factory, Gallagher's,

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and the staff would pour up Royal Avenue from work,

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and you would see them stopping and looking just to say,

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"Right, what is it tonight there?"

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In coming together as they did, the people of Northern Ireland

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smashed the original 100,000 shillings target,

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raising almost £3 million in today's money - enough to buy 17 Spitfires.

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They were named after the areas and businesses that donated the cash.

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This, of course, is what the Fund was all about -

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some lovely black and white photographs of just some of the Telegraph Spitfires.

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Belfast itself, Armagh, Harlandic -

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Harland and Wolff's very own one - and Londonderry's.

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And in amongst all this is just some more information

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as to how the money was raised.

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This is amazing, the headline here reads, "Pensioner's self-denial."

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"Pensioner gives up a shilling a week." How about that?

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This one - "30 shillings raised from the sale of a wedding ring from a woman in Newry."

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I mean, generosity that's hard to fathom these days.

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And this is lovely - this is the story of two boys in Ballymena.

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They created a machine made out of Meccano parts that contained

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an image of Hitler and Churchill, and if you put a penny in the slot

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Churchill would kick Hitler up the backside.

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Northern Ireland felt this was part of their war effort,

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and they had so many people killed in the War, killed in action.

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And they felt Northern Ireland is playing its part,

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and they were proud of it.

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The aircraft went on to play an invaluable role

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in the Battle of Britain, and one of the legendary fighters

0:20:310:20:34

was piloted by Londonderry-born Cecil Austin,

0:20:340:20:38

who put Spitfires above all the other planes he flew in the War.

0:20:380:20:41

He said there was nothing like flying the Spitfires.

0:20:410:20:44

He said it was just the most exhilarating thing he had ever done.

0:20:440:20:49

They were much lighter to the touch and much quicker to respond,

0:20:490:20:52

I think they were faster, as well.

0:20:520:20:54

After flying missions all over the UK,

0:20:540:20:57

he eventually ended up stationed back at home in Northern Ireland.

0:20:570:21:01

Ballyhalbert's on the Atlantic, really, or on the coast,

0:21:010:21:04

and a big priority at that time was protecting the Atlantic convoys.

0:21:040:21:09

And he was very proud of the fact that, among the many Spitfires

0:21:090:21:13

that he flew out of Ballyhalbert, one of them was the Down Spitfire.

0:21:130:21:19

It was one of the 17 Spitfires that were bought through

0:21:190:21:23

the Belfast Telegraph Fund and it was named after County Down.

0:21:230:21:27

I actually found the flight that he made in the Down Spitfire.

0:21:270:21:33

P7823, it says, "December 9th, convoy patrol."

0:21:330:21:38

And that's the very plane and the very convoy

0:21:380:21:42

that is actually captured in the painting of the Down Spitfire,

0:21:420:21:46

and that's my dad flying it.

0:21:460:21:48

I'm very proud of him.

0:21:540:21:56

They were just boys, really, but they...

0:22:000:22:03

I don't know what it was that drove them to do it,

0:22:030:22:06

but they had a real determination, and I think they were a very special generation, too.

0:22:060:22:11

I don't think that our generation - even those of us here

0:22:110:22:15

in Northern Ireland who have lived through a 35-year war,

0:22:150:22:19

as many people would describe it - it's still not the same.

0:22:190:22:23

They had real steel and grit, and something that set them aside.

0:22:230:22:28

I think they really were "the few".

0:22:280:22:30

And in 1994, a refurbished plane was renamed the Enniskillen

0:22:340:22:40

to mark the contribution the Belfast Spitfires made to the War.

0:22:400:22:43

But it wasn't just money to pay for the planes the people of Belfast contributed.

0:23:090:23:14

It was the very materials used to build them, as well.

0:23:140:23:18

The wings of Spitfires were sometimes covered in linen -

0:23:180:23:21

a material derived from a traditional Northern Irish crop.

0:23:210:23:25

Flax was an essential ingredient to the already established textile business here,

0:23:250:23:32

and I'm looking for McConville's Mill.

0:23:320:23:35

Here we are, right here.

0:23:370:23:38

There we are, McConville's Flax Mill and Museum.

0:23:400:23:43

It's home to brothers Eugene and Felix,

0:23:430:23:45

whose passion for flax has given them a detailed knowledge

0:23:450:23:48

of how ancient techniques were adapted for the war effort.

0:23:480:23:52

It is a pretty tough crop.

0:23:520:23:54

Now, you couldn't process that there now as you see it now.

0:23:540:23:57

That has to be stopped in water for nine to 14 nights to soften the fibre.

0:23:570:24:03

Now, this is it here after it's dried.

0:24:030:24:06

Now, this looks like hay, doesn't it?

0:24:060:24:08

Yes, not unlike hay.

0:24:080:24:10

Now, if you compare them, first thing you'll notice

0:24:100:24:13

is the two different colours.

0:24:130:24:14

Now this is pretty tough, this is soft and limber.

0:24:140:24:19

Oh, you're right, look at that - I can wrap that round my finger.

0:24:190:24:22

That is ready for scutching.

0:24:220:24:23

By soaking the crop in water, the flax becomes soft enough

0:24:230:24:26

for the fibres to be extracted from the tough stalks.

0:24:260:24:29

This is done through a process called scutching.

0:24:290:24:32

This is industrialised scutching.

0:24:320:24:35

We'll just jump over the bench and put a bit through

0:24:350:24:38

and let you see how it used to be done in the olden days, during the War days.

0:24:380:24:42

Let's have a look then, guys. I've certainly come to the right place.

0:24:420:24:45

Well, there's six blades on cast-iron stocks,

0:24:460:24:50

and they're flying round at high speed.

0:24:500:24:52

That looks absolutely terrifying, Eugene.

0:24:580:25:01

I'm amazed you haven't lost any fingers over the years.

0:25:010:25:03

Have you finished yours, Felix?

0:25:060:25:08

HE LAUGHS

0:25:080:25:09

Are you slacking with your scutching?

0:25:090:25:13

Lovely. Let's have a look at it. Where's the finished article?

0:25:130:25:16

That's the finished article there, Jules.

0:25:160:25:18

Millions of men went into battle wearing clothes made from this raw product,

0:25:190:25:23

but first it had to spun into linen, ready to be stitched.

0:25:230:25:27

Valerie Wilson, curator of textiles at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum,

0:25:280:25:32

has a wealth of stories from the sewing front lines.

0:25:320:25:36

Valerie, hello. How are you?

0:25:360:25:38

It's nice to meet you, how are you?

0:25:380:25:40

-Well, this certainly sets the scene.

-Yes, well, welcome to the drapers.

0:25:400:25:43

Now, the statistics that surround textile production

0:25:430:25:46

here in Northern Ireland when we think about the War are staggering.

0:25:460:25:50

Well, they are. Even just before the War

0:25:500:25:53

it was estimated that one in five people in Northern Ireland

0:25:530:25:56

were working in the linen industry,

0:25:560:25:59

either in the growing of flax or the finishing off of the actual fabrics.

0:25:590:26:03

We had a very trained, very able workforce here,

0:26:030:26:05

we had all the facilities, all of the factories

0:26:050:26:08

and also the right climate for flax production.

0:26:080:26:11

-LAUGHING:

-It likes it wet, does it?

0:26:110:26:12

Wet and damp, sort of constantly.

0:26:120:26:15

Ulster Linen was used in everything

0:26:150:26:17

from parachute harnesses to military bootlaces,

0:26:170:26:20

but the industry's adoption of other fabrics meant Northern Ireland

0:26:200:26:23

provided the bulk of Britain's uniforms during the War.

0:26:230:26:26

There were so many different roles,

0:26:260:26:28

and every different role needed its own uniform,

0:26:280:26:31

so the factories in Ulster that had previously been making

0:26:310:26:34

linen sheeting, linen tablecloths, household goods, and shirts

0:26:340:26:39

switched production to all the uniform fabrics

0:26:390:26:41

because the skills were there,

0:26:410:26:43

and the women who had previously been making up shirts

0:26:430:26:46

found themselves making battle dress blouses - same skills, really.

0:26:460:26:50

In 1940, the Ministry of Commerce were placing orders

0:26:500:26:56

for up to 60,000 denim overalls a week, 60,000 shirts,

0:26:560:27:01

30,000 battle dress shirts,

0:27:010:27:03

and 100,000 gas haversacks per year.

0:27:030:27:08

So the statistics are incredible.

0:27:080:27:10

Now, I gather there's a very human side to this production story.

0:27:100:27:14

It's not just about volume and uniforms.

0:27:140:27:17

Within the shirts, is it true that love letters were stashed away?

0:27:170:27:20

Oh yes, I have this on good authority -

0:27:200:27:22

the good authority being my late mother.

0:27:220:27:25

She started work in a shirt factory in Ballymena

0:27:250:27:28

about the same week that war broke out in 1939.

0:27:280:27:32

She was a 14-year-old girl, and she assured me that only the older girls

0:27:320:27:36

on the production line put their names and addresses and little notes

0:27:360:27:40

into the pockets in the hope that they'd get a penpal out of it.

0:27:400:27:44

ARCHIVE: Here's a Sister Susie sending a message to a soldier,

0:27:450:27:48

"This shirt was made by an Ulster lass

0:27:480:27:51

"whose lips were made for kissing,

0:27:510:27:52

"so hurry up and win the war, you don't know what you're missing."

0:27:520:27:55

During the War, the Belfast Civil Defence Authority

0:28:020:28:06

issued a publication called the Belfast Citizens' Handbook.

0:28:060:28:11

It said that the good citizen was one who realised that

0:28:110:28:14

the only way victory would be achieved is that if every man,

0:28:140:28:17

every woman, every boy, every girl,

0:28:170:28:19

gave every ounce, every day, in every way.

0:28:190:28:23

And, certainly, from what I've seen here,

0:28:230:28:25

the people of Northern Ireland did that admirably.

0:28:250:28:29

Next time, I'm in Scotland

0:28:290:28:31

enjoying a taste of the food dished up during the War...

0:28:310:28:35

..and revealing the mysteries of a field in East Kilbride.

0:28:360:28:39

This marker here is where a well-known aviator landed.

0:28:390:28:44

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0:28:460:28:50

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