Typescript memoir titled 'Through Wars and Peace: one man's work with the YMCA 1914-1955', biography of Harold M. Gould, YMCA Secretary. The volume was compiled by Gould's son, Ian, based on his father's handwritten notes and other papers.
The volume is divided into chapters beginning with 'Salisbury Plain and France, 1914-1919', including accounts relating to the outbreak of the First World War, travelling to Boulogne and Calais in 1915, establishing centres in the First Army area, 1915; and leading the work of the St Omer District, 1917-1919.
The volume discusses Gould's activities working for the YMCA in Taunton, 1919-1920; Gloucester, 1920-1923; Grimsby, 1923-1926, including an account of the World Conference in Helsingfors [Helsinki, Finland] in 1926; Hanley, 1926-1932, including an account of a visit to Canada and the USA in 1930 and a description of the formation of 'Y's Men's Club'; Norwich, 1932-1936; Bridgwater, 1937-1939; Portsmouth, 1939-1954, including an account of the outbreak of the Second World War, Christmas during the war, mobile tea cars and the Allied Sailors' Club, and preparations for D-Day.
A chapter discusses the World's Committee of the YMCA centennial celebrations in Paris during 1955.
An appendix includes sections titled 'A Day in France, 1915'; 'The Menagerie (The YMCA centre at Aire)'; 'The Scottish Brotherhood Huts, Noeux-les-Mines'; 'Reports of the St Omer District, 1917-1919'; 'Ruby (Melvin) Gould's account of her stay in St Omer'; 'Y's Men's Clubs'.
Taken as a whole, this memoir provides an invaluable record of the work of the YMCA during the First World War, the inter-war years, the Second World War, and the years immediately following the Second World War.