November 2023
The Bridport branch of the Burma Star Association (BSA) was founded by Les Rose in the 1980s, when he and his wife, Phyllis, moved here.
Les had previously worked at the headquarters of the BSA in London, and soon set about setting up a branch in Bridport. He put a notice in the local papers asking holders of the Burma Star to contact him if they were interested in forming a local branch.
On 17 February 1988 the first committee met at Les’s house in North Allington, where he and Phyllis were joined by Peter Freeman, Ken Smith, Roy Hawker, Bob Collins, Charles Everidge and his wife, and a Mr Eland.
Their aims were to represent Burma Star veterans in local remembrance parades and church services and provide support and welfare to deserving Burma Star veterans and widows. The branch had to raise funds to buy a standard, which was blessed by the Revd Roger Shambrook, Vicar of St Swithun’s, on 6 November 1988. Brigadier Baly, Commander of the Blandford army camp, dedicated the Bridport standard at the camp on 1 October 1989. Many branch members joined in the celebrations at Blandford, including then-Mayor of Bridport Daphne Stebbings (Mundy).
The standard now rests in St Mary’s Bridport and is regularly taken out for VJ day commemorations and Armistice parades by the Friends of Bridport Burma Star Association (BBSA).
In 1994, branch committee member Roy Loring commissioned and installed the Burma Star stone plaque in the hall porch at St Swithun’s. It was dedicated in August 1995 by the Revd Roger Shambrook and unveiled by Mrs Slowcock, the great-grandniece of Field Marshal William Slim. Mrs Slowcock lived near Bridport at the time.
The branch soon expanded to include Dorchester and Weymouth and they continued to support each other until the branch closed on 13 August 2015.
The surviving branch members – Charles Everidge, Stuart Hawkins and Bill Amor of Bridport and Reg Carter and Doug Montague of Weymouth – all helped to close the branch and to create the Friends of BBSA in January 2015. The group is made up of three widows, four daughters, one son and ten friends of the Burma Star members, and they carry on the branch’s good work, marching in the Armistice parade, laying wreaths and cleaning and maintaining the memorials. They also meet socially for lunch. New members are always welcome: contact Ann Ayling (424896).
For 37 years the Bridport clergy have been actively involved with the BSA, giving their time, support and blessing to the Bridport branch and more recently to the Friends of the BBSA.
The branch chaplains have included: the Revd Roger Shambrook; Canon Trevor Stubbs; the Revd Gordon Sealy, whose wife Marilyn still worships at St Swithun’s; the Revd Tug Wilson; and the Revd Ann Ayling.
Liz Jones
“British and Indian troops fought hand to hand with the Japanese through mud and jungle, in monsoon and dense tropical heat, the air around them swirling with bullets and disease. At one point they faced each other across a British diplomatic tennis court.” The Times, Saturday 22 June 2019.
On Garrison Hill, above Kohima on the Indian frontier with Burma, 1,500 Allied troops clung on against 15,000 Japanese. In 2013 the Battle of Kohima was named by the National Army Museum as “Britain’s greatest battle”. The Japanese invasion of India was reversed. And this by what is often known as The Forgotten Army.
When I was six years old, my mum walked into my bedroom late one night with a strange man. “Ann, this is your daddy,” she said. Percy Frederick Storr – “Pip”, my dad – had spent the war in Burma in the Royal Signals Regiment. Like most veterans he never spoke of his experience, and died, six years later, of lung cancer brought about by incessant smoking – a legacy of war.
In 2012 I was asked to be the chaplain of the Bridport Burma Star Association. There were then still surviving veterans, but in 2015 we became the Friends of BBSA. We continue to commemorate VJ Day in August, with services at St Swithun’s and the memorial in St Mary’s Churchyard; we gather at the memorial on the 11th hour of the 11th day in November and take part in the parade and service on Remembrance Sunday. We meet socially once or twice a year.
Recent donations to the Friends have included a ceramic poppy from the Tower of London display (now in St Mary’s Church), two Burma Star badges, a banner, a carved wooden plaque, memorabilia and a shield, which is displayed in St Swithun’s.
In August 2020 the national Burma Star Association closed, owing to falling membership, although it still continues its charitable work. Many members of the Friends are relatives of veterans and we continue – so that their contribution to the Burma campaign is not forgotten.
The Revd Ann Ayling