COUNCILLORS from Chard and Ilminster gathered last week to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Warship Week when the towns helped to raise a whopping amount of money to support the war effort.
The News ran a feature in its last edition about Warship Week in which people in Chard and Ilminster raised £164,220 – the equivalent today of an eye-watering £4.5m.
Communities across the country came together in 1941-42 to raise £955,611,589 for the war effort by sponsoring a naval vessel through individual investments in Government Bonds and National Savings Certificates.
Nearly 1,200 Warship Weeks were organised during the campaign with the Chard and Ilminster campaigns from February 7-14, 1942.
The people of Chard were asked to raise £120,000 to fund a Corvette and Ilminster was challenged to raise £136,500 to fund a minesweeper.
Chard raised £90,209 – today worth about £2.5m – and Ilminster £74,011, just over £2m today.
The amounts raised were enough to allow Chard to officially adopt HMS Campion and Ilminster to adopt HMS Ready.
Cities, towns and villages across the country adopted eight battleships, four carriers, 49 cruisers, 301 destroyers, 25 submarines, 164 corvettes and frigates, and 288 minesweepers during the Warship Weeks campaign.
HMS Campion is remembered with a plaque and photo in the Guildhall and a display at Chard Museum.
In Ilminster there are a number of shields of HMS Ready at the town council’s offices in North Street.
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