War Years
With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, one by one the Company officers were called up leaving senior NCO’s to run the Company. In 1940 the Company, and the Church, were stunned by the sudden death from meningitis of S/Sgt. Claude Arnold (18). His grave in Kidderminster cemetery bears a large, coloured B.B. crest.
In 1941/42 an officer from a London company (Mr. Alf Cox) offered his help, having been evacuated to Kidderminster.
Then in 1943 S/Sgt. Gordon Hopkins started work at the underground factory at Blakeshall
where he met Mr. Doug Winter, Captain 20th Birmingham. He volunteered to become acting
Captain and so began a decade of friendship and co-
Immediate Post-
When the war ended in 1945 gradually men returned home. Mr. E (Ted) Harvey, followed
by Mr. Les Holloway filled the Captain’s post for a while until 1948 when Mr. L.W.Arnold
was appointed. By this time everyday life was returning to normal and such things
as camps were possible again. Under his leadership outdoor activities played a prominent
part of Company life :-
In 1948 a scrap book recording Company activities was commenced. Now some 55 years and many scrap books later the records are still being kept.
