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My name is Barry Francis I also wrote "got any gum chum" on the Alfreton page & "The Sentry".This story was told to me by my friend & neighbour Tim Ludlam. As a boy Tim lived at the back of Alfreton cattle market above Severns square, an area long since gone.The cottage he lived in had the rare luxury in those days of a bathroom & it stood close to a disused chapel occupied by pigeons.Tims Mother ,Doris tells the story of one day during the war watching the arrival of an army lorry at the chapel, its occupants were troops & Doris was shocked to see the state they were in,they were exhausted ,dirty ,bloodstained,& some of them without boots or other clothing.They were billeted in the disused chapel & on strking up a conversation with them Doris, her family & neighbours found they were survivors from Dunkirk & had traveled up to Alfreton with God knows how many more from their ports of disembarkation.They found out they had been fed by wellwishers at all the stations on the journey north & what they needed most was a hot bath. Doris had no coal,the back boiler didn't work anyway so with whatever fuel they could find they lit the brick boiler on the back yard & by ferrying the hot water to the bath in buckets, managed the arduous task of giving a lot of very grateful soldiers a much needed hot bath. A Londoner named Ben who was one of those soldiers was later billeted with doris & her family & a Welshman named Charlie was billeted next door, they all remained in touch until recently.The cross was found on the beach at Dunkirk during the evacuation & given to Doris by one of the soldeirs in appreciation. It was found to be of some value.

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