I’ve published a booklet called ‘The YMCA in the First World War’. I wrote a blog post about this a few weeks ago and, since then, I’ve been working with Sue McGeever who, I discovered, lives quite close to me and lectures on this subject. The story is far more interesting and, indeed, important than a voluntary organisation doing their bit during WW1. The YMCA set up thousands of ‘huts’ wherever in the world British and Allied troops were stationed, including the front line trenches, to supply home comforts ….. meals, drinks, entertainments, lectures, movies, concerts, sport and much more. The scale and scope of the support they gave is breath-taking and it was all paid for by donations from the public.
This seems to be a forgotten part of our social history, so Sue and I have written the story and illustrated it with photos from my collection.
It’s available here for £4.99.
