Tea for the men back from Dunkirk

You might say it was the cultural centre of Kingstanding. The first thing I recall about that was that my mother was the member of an organisation called ‘The Helping Hand’. They used to have an arm band in green with a white hand on it and they used to provide comforts if you like for soldiers particularly (during World War 2). And they were very involved in particular when the soldiers started coming back from Dunkirk. We were horrified to hear from the soldiers when they got back. They were told to dump all their equipment and when they got back to the UK they had to pay for it all. They brought them to the hall (amongst other places). They were still shell shocked if you like. They were brought directly from Dover immediately after Dunkirk. I don’t know what happened to them after that but I do know it was an assembly place for them. I remember my mother going down and dispensing tea and sandwiches for them.