St Neots, The Boatyard c.1960

Photo ref: S37027

More about this scene

St Neots and Eaton Socon, and wounded soldiers were often in evidence around the town. The war years provided local women here, as elsewhere, with new opportunities. As far as the St Neots area was concerned these were mainly in agricultural work, but the appointment that attracted the most notice was that of a Mrs Phillips as the town's first postwoman. Many local activities did manage to continue during the war years, and some new things were introduced to the area by soldiers who were stationed locally. It was two Welsh teams, for instance, that played the first known game of rugby union in the town. All the bustle and activity of the coming and going of troops and visitors did little to cover the gloom that descended on the neighbourhood as news of the deaths of local men, many of them not yet 20 years old, became an all too regular feature. It was, then, a sombre community that welcomed the end of the war and gave lavishly to provide memorials to the dead. The war memorials in the three parishes record the names of 182 men who had died. In St Neots more than £1,000 was raised to recast and rehang the church bells as a tribute to the town's war dead. Later more money was contributed to erect the public memorial, which stands in Church Walk.