Oral History collection: Grafton Maggs (of Mumbles, born 1926) interviewed by Peter Hall. DVD entitled 'A Schoolboy's Days in Mumbles Home Guard'.

[00:00:01] Personal Details: Grafton Maggs, ex-Home Guard. [00:00:39] Italians: Macari family, open Fortes Ice Cream Parlour. [00:01:00] Abyssinia: Italian invasion 1935, Haile Selassie's family to Swansea, Bible College. [00:01:21] Italians: Anti-Italian feeling, Macari family exempt. [00:02:19] Internment: WW2: Macari senior interned as enemy alien. [00:02:56] War: Memories of sea front, early September 1939. [00:03:29] War: Regular Army, appears Mumbles. [00:03:58] Mumbles Railway: Lightless, blue paint. [00:04:42] British Legion: First-aid hut, Square (back of current Boots). [00:05:29] Civil Defence: ARP recruitment - very choosy. [00:05:32] Civil Defence: ARP: could join as messenger at age 14. [00:05:40] Civil Defence: ARP HQ British Legion, Marine Villa. [00:05:47] Civil Defence: Social snobbery, ARP. [00:05:54] Class: Class divisions in Mumbles, by area. [00:06:50] Home Guard: Socially inclusive. [00:06:58] War: Memories of war declaration. [00:07:56] YMCA: Mumbles YMCA, location of Ostreme Hall. [00:08:06] War: Arrivals of troops. [00:08:29] Civil Defence: Air raid shelters, delivered long before. [00:08:48] War Memorial: All Saints Church: restoration - costs and procedures. [00:10:50] War: LS Alec Hunt, RN regular, from Park St, KIA on HARDY at Narvik (Warburton-Lee, VC). [00:13:12] War: Tommy Cottle, Merchant Navy. [00:13:33] War: Many locals joined forces pre-war. [00:13:43] RAF: Attraction: apprenticeships. [00:13:55] HMS REPULSE: Bryn Ballston, RN regular 1937, survived sinking. [00:15:02] Harry Libby: Businessman & politician. [00:15:27] Leisure: Mumbles swimming. [00:16:13] HMS REPULSE: Bryn Ballston's escape from sinking ship, useless lifejacket, swam c 7 miles. [00:17:43] HMS VAMPIRE: DD rescues Bryn Ballston. [00:18:08] Harry Libby: Ability to influence GPO. [00:18:44] Harry Libby: Produced monthly local news digests, sent to men in forces. [00:18:59] BBC: Weekly town focus, wireless messages abroad. [00:19:20] Warnock Hunt: Merchant Navy, KIA Atlantic, aged 17, son of Joe, lighthouse keeper. [00:20:52] Gordon Pewsy: KIA, RAF. [00:21:00] Boy Scouts: Mumbles scouts, many to RAF. [00:21:23] Army: Sussex Regt stationed in area 1940-41, Regulars, CO Evelyn Barker. [00:23:27] War: Captain Jack Williams, Merchant Navy. [00:26:07] Home Guard: LDV formation, 1940, invasion fears. [00:27:59] Home Guard: Mumbles Home Guard, leaders & personnel, WW1 veterans. [00:29:02] Class: Class distinctions in Home Guard. [00:30:28] Home Guard: Training in Regent Cinema (later Tivoli) - Lewis & Vickers instruction. [00:31:32] Home Guard: Joining LDV (false ages). [00:32:00] Home Guard: Units geographically organised: No 1 Platoon Mumbles village. [00:32:17] Snipers: Individual telegrams from WO at end of WW1. [00:32:50] Home Guard: No 1 Platoon personnel & organisation. [00:33:58] Class: Class distinctions in Home Guard. [00:34:14] Home Guard: Generational differences of attitude. [00:35:38] Home Guard: Dad's Army well-researched. [00:35:47] Home Guard: Intense ethos, until spring '41. [00:36:21] Home Guard: Equipment. [00:36:31] Home Guard: Mumbles Home Guard only unit to have Lee-Enfields (rest of LDV had Ross rifles) [subject states that Ross's were .30 calibre, rather than .303. The Ross had a straight-pull bolt action, with a very bad reputation for jamming in muddy conditions - Canadians abandoned them, adopted SMLEs instead. Ross rifles were not, as subject states, Boer War weapons. See DD Z 717-23, 1m 10s, for different account of Ross rifle calibre}. [00:36:55] Home Guard: Drill competitions; Sgt Jack Anderson, ex Welsh Guards CSM, drill sergeant. [00:37:38] Home Guard: Tommy Lewis, only extant member of Mumbles Home Guard. [00:38:20] Class: Social integration in Home Guard. [00:38:46] Home Guard: Skills acquired - drill, etc. [00:39:01] Home Guard: Western Command Weapon Training School, Allcar[?]. [00:39:21] Home Guard: Weapons training. [00:39:48] War: Beach defences, mines, Swansea Bay, Blackpill. [00:40:21] Home Guard: Armoury in Church Hall, Blackpill. [00:40:43] Home Guard: Duties, rotas. [00:41:53] Home Guard: Prior to Church Hall, used house (now gone) next to Lloyds Garage. [00:43:24] War: Bombing, sentry injured. [00:44:35] Home Guard: Three call-outs for invasion scares. [00:44:50] Home Guard: Call-out system. [00:45:02] Home Guard: Incendiary raid, fire fighting on Mumbles Hill. [00:49:38] Luftwaffe: Live incendiary bombs, unsuitability as household decorations. [00:52:43] Home Guard: Training, preparation for army. [00:53:28] Bombing: Mumbles: stayed in bed rather than in shelters. [00:53:40] Bombing: Bomb hit on cliff path, Langland, crater still there - c40yds up cliff path towards Limeslade, on left. [00:55:41] War: Bombing: loss of sleep, uncertainty. [00:56:13] War: Location of air raid sirens. [00:56:38] Bombing: Swansea Blitz, Home Guard volunteers. [00:58:10] Bombing: Hospital Square, Bryn-Y-Mor Rd - incendiaries, firefighting. [01:01:07] Bombing: Subject: no sense of jeopardy in bombing. [01:01:34] Bombing: Major Davies, CO Bomb Disposal