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Last Modified: 05 February, 2012
Mercian Military History Society
‘Meeting Warning Order’ Wednesday 7th March 2012 Plymouth Court, Headless Cross, Redditch, B97 4NR (Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30 start) Mobile number for directions – 07729 277 984 ======================================================== Wednesday February 1st 2012 saw another good meeting at our regular venue of Plymouth Court, Headless Cross, Redditch B97 4NR. At this meeting member Ron Gallivan introduced us to the food supply problems facing Britain throughout the ‘Rationing Years of 1940 to 1954.’ (Yes 1954 & not 1945!)
Our ‘home grown’ supplies would only last for 120 days at a time. This means we could only feed ourselves from Sunday Breakfast to Tuesday Lunch. After that it was imports or starvation! That meant a heavy reliance on the Merchant Navy and beating the U-Boat menace. Imported food took up shipping space that we could use for other war materials, therefore we had to increase our ‘home grown’ crops.
It was a success story! In 1939 we only had 9 million acres of land under the plough. By 1945 we had 19 million acres under the plough. That is more than twice the size of Holland and nearly three times the size of Wales. Crop sizes increased by an average of 91% during the period. Wheat for example jumped from 1.685 million to 3.318 million tons, which was one reason why bread was not rationed during the War. All this was down to the County War Agricultural Executive Committees who who ruthlessly managed labour and set targets for farmers.
Finally, we discussed how post war European instability perpetuated the ration system until 1954. Next Society meeting is Wednesday 7th March 2012
· Presentation dates 2012
o March 7th – Discussion Night – Falklands War o April 4th – Kitting Out the 1940 Soldier! – Member Craig Polly o May 2nd – ‘The Plight of the Athenia’ - WW2 Story - Member Ron Gallivan o June 6th – Discussion Night – D Day - The organisation behind the landings! o July 4th – The Second Sikh War – Final Days of Sikh Empire – Member Ron Gallivan o August 1st – The Battle for Crete – Member Craig Polly o September 5th – ‘The Plight of the Athenia’ - 1st ship down in Battle of Atlantic Member Ron Gallivan o October 3rd – The Development of Military Bridging – Member Gerry Taggart o November 7th – The Second Sikh War – Final Days of Sikh Empire Member Ron Gallivan
o December 5th –
Christmas Social · General o We have several embryonic presentations and talks we are working on in the background by several of the members and as these come to fruition (fit for purpose) we will ‘declare’ them and put them in the calendar. o Presentations from within the membership are always welcome! There are enough experienced people to help you get from ideas to presentation. It is enjoyable!! (and addictive!)
o
Our Website is:
http://www.militaryhistoryatmercian.co.uk
and gives a précis of content
for the last presentation and the title and date of the next. Please
take a moment to see what we offer. Regards to all,
Chairman: Ron Gallivan
Ron Gallivan is a professional presenter who has a range of personal presentations available for booking at Societies, Clubs and venues in South Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warwickshire. Please contact him direct for more details.
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His
presentation explained that there was a fundamental difference between
the Ministry of Agriculture (who grew the ‘home grown’ foods and
supplied it to the Ministry of Food who combined it with all the other
food products it had purchased from across the World and distributed it
nationally through the Rationing System.
In 1939 we imported 60% of what we
ate. (55 million tons per year) 
The
Ministry of Agriculture concentrated their efforts on what they termed
the three ‘heavy’ harvests.
These were wheat, potatoes and sugar beet. These were easy to grow; full
of calories and vitamins BUT they were heavy and if we imported them,
they would take up valuable shipping space on the merchant ships
bringing food in from across the Empire and the World. 
We
focused on the 80,000 strong Women’s Land Army; their recruitment and
training and the effect of the ‘heavy work gangs’ who (amongst other
large projects) cleared and drained the East Anglian Fens for the
production of food. We saw how civilian volunteer labour, children and
army units were all mobilised to help at harvest time through the ‘Lend
a Hand on the Land’ and the ‘Harvest Holiday Camps’ and were paid 1/6d
per day (8 new pence) Something that few realise was the impact on
wartime agriculture of the 650,000 Italian and German Prisoners of War .
In 1945, one fifth of all agricultural workers were PoWs. 
