Bournemouth At War / SHORT SUPPLY: FRUIT & VEG Traditional Cache

Bournemouth has a great history. I have documented many famous people, major events and occurrences in previous geocaching series highlighting the history of Bournemouth. This series focuses on many of the key incidents and stories in the town when Bournemouth was at war. A complete list of all the caches in this series are bookmarked.

With the war getting deadlier, warnings of enemy bombing became more frequent in 1943. In January alone, 18 times the sirens sounded, but no bombs were dropped. The year also faced additional problems with many everyday necessities being in short supply.



The local community were “doing their bit” for the war effort, finding many different ways to raise money. St Mary’s Church, Springbourne, were raising money for the Bishop of Winchester’s War Damaged Churches Fund. They had a collection box at the entrance of the church and asked members to place a penny for every time the siren sounded during the previous week. This method raised £17 during the period 1941-42.

Certain fruit and veg were becoming luxury items. Bananas were seldom seen since the beginning of the war, so when two bananas became available in October, they were sold for charity. One fetched 30 shillings (£1.50) for the Red Cross Prisoners of War Fund and the other also thirty shillings for the Victoria Home for Crippled Children in Westbourne. The person who purchased the second one auctioned it for £4, the proceeds again going to the Children’s Home.