Film made to mark 80th anniversary of VE Day gives fascinating insight into wartime Lymm

A special film made locally to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day gives a fascinating insight into wartime Lymm.

The day war was declared, on September 3rd 1939 the film showing at the Lymm Cinema was, appropriately enough, “Stand Up and Fight”, while down at the Lower Dam, at Holts Café, Wilf Rigby and his Palm Court Dance Band were providing the entertainment with late buses provided to Urmston and Warrington.
These are just a couple of the fascinating insights into the soon to be disrupted daily life that feature in a new film from Lymm Heritage Centre – “Half The Battle”.
Heritage Centre curator Alan Williams said: “We all know something of that sense of disruption to our daily lives having lived through Covid lockdown but there is really no comparison: blackouts, gas mask drills, digging for victory and food rationing, not to mention the occasional stray bomb, all quickly became the norm in the early years of the war.”
The whole experience is described vividly using remarkably preserved footage from the time in this new film “Half The Battle” – subtitled as “Stories from the home front in Lymm, World War Two”.
The documentary, made especially to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day by the team at Lymm Heritage Centre, is being shown throughout May at the Centre. It can also be seen at the VE Day event at Lymm Village Hall on Saturday May 10 2-6pm when visitors will also be able to see displays from Lymm History Society and Lymm Library. Check out the Parish Council website for more details.
Running through the film is the story of ARP warden, Alec Grice. He was the only civilian fatality of the war in Lymm and ironically he was killed at the entrance to an air raid shelter as he was performing his duties.

Reporting restrictions at the time meant there was no news report of the tragedy but the Lymm Archive team have unearthed some fascinating new material including the wartime diary of Jesse Crowder who lived at Laburnum Cottage on Higher Lane as well as previously unseen photos of the air raid shelter on Sandy Lane.
All in all the film is an unmissable experience, made all the more remarkable because it can be seen for free (donations welcome!) at Lymm Heritage Centre – Thursday to Sunday 12-4. And on the way in be sure to pause and admire the window display that captures something of the reality of life in Lymm in the first half of the 1940s.