The links below may be of interest. More links will be added over time, and if you would like to suggest one, please contact TACA.
- The British Army: http://www.army.mod.uk
- The Ministry of Defence: http://www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/home
- The Army Families Federation (AFF) acts as the independent voice of army families and works hard to improve the quality of army family life. Visit its website at: http://www.aff.org.uk
- The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help provides support for the serving men and women in today's armed forces and for those who have served, also caring for the needs of their families and dependants. For more information, visit: http://www.ssafa.org.uk
- ABF The Soldiers' Charity (formerly the Army Benevolent Fund, or ABF) provides financial and practical support to soldiers, former soldiers and their families in times of need by means of grants made to appropriate individuals and charities. Learn more by visiting its website: http://www.soldierscharity.org
- The Royal British Legion (http://www.britishlegion.org.uk) provides financial, social and emotional support to those who have served, and who are currently serving, in the armed forces, and to their dependants.
- The Forces Children's Trust is a charity devoted to helping dependent children who have lost a parent while serving with the armed forces. Discover more at http://www.forceschildrenstrust.org
- The King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR), a joint initiative of the Institute of Psychiatry and the Department of War Studies at King's College London, is primarily a research centre focusing on war and health; war and psychiatry; personnel issues and social policy. To access a wealth of information, much of it pertinent to the lives of army children, regarding associated research, reports and publications, as well as useful links and resources, visit: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/information/ links.html
- Veterans-UK encompasses a variety of different veterans' services provided by a range of organisations from the Ministry of Defence, other government departments and voluntary-sector organisations. For further information on the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) and services and organisations aimed at helping veterans, visit the Veterans-UK website at: http://www.veterans-uk.info
- On the Rear Party website (http://www.rearparty.co.uk), an unofficial community site for the friends, families and supporters of the British armed forces, you'll find forums, a photo gallery, live chat and blogs, as well as information, support and advice.
- Intended as 'a helping hand' for 'everyone who is the mother of, married to or a friend of someone in the Forces', the Forces Chatter website was set up by Judith Bray, a military mother and author of two self-help books for the families and friends of soldiers away on active deployment. The website includes detailed sections focusing on family life, deployment, keeping in touch, military jargon and discounts and offers; there is also a 'Help Me' section, a chat room and a forum. Visit Forces Chatter at: http://www.forceschatter.co.uk
- The focus of Forces Reunited (http://www.forcesreunited.org.uk) is on the veterans' community. As well as enabling members to make contact with old forces friends online, it hosts forums and chat rooms and displays memories, memorials and images submitted by members.
- There are a number of groups on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) that bring together past and present 'army brats'; the largest is currently British Forces brats, which is open to all.
Anna Matthews has contacted TACA with news of a website that she is setting up with Lorraine Bilton, which can already be viewed online. Here, Anna explains more about the vision that she and Lorraine have for their Homefront Forces website, which is intended for those forces families with a parent away on active service:
The two women were moved to set up the site during the build-up to Lorraine's husband’s eight-and-a-half-month deployment. Scouring the internet for family-friendly sites, the women drew a blank. They quickly established that a safe, child-friendly site, allowing a child to update a parent on everyday life, was needed to help maintain closeness between children and their parents during deployments. Their dream for Homefront Forces is that a child can send a message to mum or dad while tea is cooking through the private, secure 'Your Family Page'. Parents and children will be able to post updates and share photos, videos, messages and e-cards.
Anna and Lorraine have discussed their plans for the site with the MoD, Lord Knight of Weymouth, Richard Drax MP, John Denham MP and also Bob Ainsworth MP and former defence secretary. All are supportive of the project. The women also have the support of the Children's Society and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children's Fund, which, in November 2009, presented a report, 'The Overlooked Casualties of Conflict', raising awareness of the challenges that service children face.
If you're interested in learning more, Anna and Lorraine can be contacted through the Homefront Forces website.
LINKS TO MORE LINKS
> For links relating to army children's transportation, see 'ON THE MOVE'.
> For links regarding the places where army children have lived, see 'POSTINGS'.
> For links concerning army children's education, see 'SCHOOLING'.
> For links leading to further information on aspects of army children's healthcare and the British military hospitals (BMHs) where many were born, see 'HEALTHCARE & HOSPITALS'.
> For links relating to genealogical research into specific army children, see 'HISTORY MATTERS'.
> For links that provide historical background information regarding many army children's lives and times, see 'HISTORY MATTERS'.
. . . & LITERATURE
The following publications all help to put the history, lives and times of the children of serving British soldiers into context in some way. Can you recommend any other titles that you feel may merit a place on the list? If so, then please e-mail details to TACA.
- Brennan, Jennifer, Curries & Bugles: A Memoir & Cookbook of the British Raj, Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd, Boston, 2000.
- Browne, William A, An Account of the Life of a Military Misfit, 1937, see: http://www.achart.ca/hibernian/misfit.htm
- Chandler, David (ed), The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994.
- Cockerill, A W, The Charity of Mars, Black Cat Press, Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, 2002.
- Cockerill, A W, Sons of the Brave, Leo Cooper in association with Secker & Warburg, London, 1984.
- Forty, George and Anne, They Also Served: A Pictorial Anthology of Camp Followers Through the Ages, Midas Books, Spelhurst, 1979.
- Freeman, Bob, The Soldier Boy, George Mann Books, Maidstone, 1996.
- Gibson, Clare, 'Children of the Regiment', Practical Family History, March 2007.
- Gibson, Clare, 'Minors on the March', Ancestors, September 2008.
- Gibson, Clare, 'Following the Drum', Family History Monthly, September 2009.
- Gibson, Clare, ‘Married Quarters: Then and Now’, AFF Families Journal, Winter 2009.
- Gibson, Clare, 'A Poignant Story from Postcards', Family Tree magazine, September 2010.
- Gibson, Marianne, How the Army Wife Gained Status and a Voice in 1982, Canterbury, 2002.
- Holmes, Richard, Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket, HarperCollins Publishers, London, 2001.
- Holmes, Richard, Sahib: The British Soldier in India, 1750-1914, HarperCollins Publishers, London, 2005.
- Jessup, Chris, Breaking Ranks: Social Change in Military Communities, Brassey's (UK) Ltd, London, 1996.
- Jolly, Ruth, Military Man, Family Man, Crown Property? Second Edition, Brassey's, London, 1992.
- Longyear, Michael, Malta, 1937-1942: Some Childhood Memories, 2006. (For further details, see below.)
- Longyear, Michael (ed), A New Life: Some Pupils' Accounts of the First Full Year in the Life of Prince Rupert School, Germany, 2007.
- Longyear, Michael (ed), Prince Rupert School: The Creation of a Boarding School for Service Families in Post-war Germany, 2006.
- May, Trevor, Military Barracks, Shire Publications Ltd, Princes Risborough, 2002.
- Mays, Spike, The Band Rats, Peter Davies, London, 1975.
- McGuffie, Tom Henderson, Rank and File: The Common Soldier at Peace and War, 1642-1914, Hutchinson, London, 1964.
- Neuburg, Victor, Gone for a Soldier: A History of Life in the British Ranks from 1642, Cassell Publishers Ltd, London, 1989.
- Parker, Tony, Soldier, Soldier, William Heinemann Ltd, London, 1985.
- Trustram, Myna, Women of the Regiment: Marriage and the Victorian Army, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984.
- Venning, Annabel, Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present, Headline Book Publishing, London, 2005.
- White, A C T, The Story of Army Education, 1643-1963, Harrap, London, 1963.
- Williams, Noel St John, Judy O'Grady & the Colonel's Lady: The Army Wife and Camp Follower Since 1660, Brassey's Defence Publishers Ltd, London, 1988.
- Williams, Col N T St John, Tommy Atkins' Children, HMSO, London, 1971.
Peter Anderson, whose father was in the Royal Army Pay Corps (and who is the poser of a question on TACA that resonates with many army children: 'QUESTION: WHERE IS MY HOME'?), has sent news of a book that he has recently published. Called Poppies from the Heart of Strathspey, the book explores the effect that World War I had on Strathspey, in Morayshire, Scotland: on its men, who fought in the conflict, and on the families and communities that they left behind. Click here to read a review of Peter's book, and here to buy a copy of it (its extent is 294pp and it costs £11.50).
REVIEW: CURRIES & BUGLES: A MEMOIR & COOKBOOK OF THE BRITISH RAJ
'My early childhood was spent between the North-west Frontier Province, the Punjab and Kashmir. And the memories are with me to this day: sights of the heaven-thrusting ice peaks of the Himalayas and the parched brown infinity of the plains; the soft soughing of the wind through the pines of the hill stations and the plaintive call of the brain-fever bird (harbinger of hot weather); the acrid but strangely pleasing aroma of the burning dung of village fires; the heady perfume from the ceremonial garlands in the bazaar and the unforgettable smell of the first hard drops of monsoon rain on the thirsting earth.'
With its focus on food – illustrated, enlivened and set into context by the author's historical research and personal reminiscences – the book's ten chapters explain and recall the spices, pickles and preserves used in Indian and Anglo–Indian cooking, as well as typical breakfasts, lunches, teas and dinners, meals eaten outdoors and on the move, buffets and party food. Chapter 8, which is devoted to children's fare, is especially illuminating in relation to the army-child experience in India, recalling as it does nannies, bungalows, childhood routines, summers spent in Murree and carefree children's parties, but also the unsettling intrusion of war and the mounting evidence of anti-British feeling as seen from a child's viewpoint. Easy-to-follow recipes and a useful glossary are the icing on the cake. CG
REVIEW: MALTA, 1937-1942: SOME CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
Following his family's arrival on the Mediterranean island of Malta (then a British dependency) in 1937, it seemed to the young Michael Longyear that life was 'one long round of swimming, beach picnics, lunches, sight seeing and generally enjoying ourselves'. The youngest of the five children of a regular soldier in the Royal Engineers, Michael would progress from primary to secondary education during the five years that he spent on Malta, but the idyllic peacetime conditions that he recalls in Malta, 1937-1942: Some Childhood Memories would prevail for only two. His memories from this pre-war period encompass such details as the appearance of the married quarters at Msida Bastion; attending primary school in Floriana Barracks; accompanying troops on exercise; and enjoying a typical Maltese workers' lunch.
Malta, 1937-1942: Some Childhood Memories tells a fascinating story of an army child's experience of living under siege. Michael Longyear has furthermore woven into his eyewitness account a number of touching and dramatic images from the family's photograph album; pertinent facts and figures that set his childhood experiences into historical context; as well thoughtful personal observations from his adult perspective. Readers with an interest in Malta during this difficult period in its history will, of course, find much of interest here, as will any former army child. CG
To obtain a copy of this illustrated, 40pp booklet (which costs £4, including post and packing for the UK; overseas p&p by arrangement), e-mail MLPRS@aol.com.
REVIEW: SMALL WARS
While the various historical aspects of this simultaneously subtle, powerful and haunting novel – and especially of the stiff-upper-lip-maintaining, self-medicating-with-White Ladies attitude upheld by the British Army – have been meticulously researched, authentically presented and sensitively handled, it is the unfolding story of the 'small war' between the initially dutiful and devoted Major Hal Treherne and his wife Clara (fresh from their previous posting in Krefeld, (West) Germany, and the parents of small twin daughters) that really grips. What's more, the issues and questions raised by Small Wars continue to have relevance to service families today. CG
Small Wars, by Sadie Jones, was published on 27 August 2009 by Chatto & Windus; for further details, click here. And click here to read contributions to TACA from Joan McCartney (PERSONAL STORY: 'I'M JUST SO GLAD I WAS AN ARMY KID') and Sheila Danks (PERSONAL STORY: MY LIFE AS AN ARMY CHILD), both of which recall 1950s' Cyprus from an army child's perspective.
CHILDREN'S BOOK: SOLDIER OLI
Many of TACA's contributors and visitors have had personal experience of the bewilderment and distress felt by very young army children as a result of a soldier parent's prolonged absence, and will therefore empathise with the youngsters who find themselves in a similar situation today. And if any number among your friends and family, you'll be interested to hear of the recent publication of Soldier Oli, by Kirsty Marvell, a rhyming picture book for pre-school children. For Soldier Oli, as Kirsty explains, is the story of a soldier leaving his family to go away on tour with his regiment, and then of his joyous return. It has been written to help children understand and cope if someone in their family has to go away on tour, too. Although written for children from army families, the story and pictures can be enjoyed by all children, Kirsty adds.
On contacting TACA, Kirsty, whose husband is in 1PWRR (the 1st Battalion, The Prince of Wales's Royal Regiment), relates how Soldier Oli came about:
'Three years ago, my husband and I moved with his regiment from London to Paderborn in Germany. I gave up work as a PE teacher at this time as I was heavily pregnant with my first child. Nine months after our son was born, my husband went on a seven-month tour to Iraq, along with most of the other soldiers living on our street. Our son was too young at the time to realise that his daddy was going away for such a long time, but it made me realise how difficult it must be for families with older children.
To purchase a copy of Soldier Oli, please visit http://www.soldieroli.com.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS: MY DADDY IS A SOLDIER AND MY MUMMY IS A SOLDIER
For more information about the books, visit the My Daddy Is A Soldier and the My Mummy Is A Soldier websites (http://mydaddyisasoldier.co.uk and http://www.mymummyisasoldier.co.uk), from which you can also buy copies for £5.99 each (including UK postage), with all proceeds going to the Afghan Appeal Fund (http://afghanappealfund.org.uk).
CHILDREN'S BOOK: MY DADDY'S GOING AWAY . . .
Current forces families will be heartened to learn of the recent publication of an illustrated storybook for young children intended to make it easier for them to cope emotionally when they are temporarily separated from their father. The story of My Daddy's Going Away . . ., by Major Christopher MacGregor – a serving army officer and father of two young children who spent much of 2007 training for and fighting on military operations abroad – is told in fourteen stanzas of poetry, with each verse linking into the emotional cycle of deployment. As well as having personal experience of being separated from his own children, Major MacGregor also has a psychology degree, making him well qualified to understand the issues and stresses faced by children and their fathers when they are apart from one another for extended periods of time, be it due to a military deployment or any other job that takes a parent away from home. HRH The Prince of Wales has written the foreword to My Daddy's Going Away . . ., which he commends for its potential to 'strengthen bonds and develop coping strategies', as well as for its promotion of Combat Stress and the Foundation for Integrated Health.
