Making Peace – Ford Castle, Northumberland, 1948

I was a teenager during World War II. My late father, Tommy Platten, was determined to join the Royal Navy to “do his bit”. He got a shock when his conscription pages came through the letterbox, conscripting him to coal mining as a Bevin Boy – one of the 20,000 young men compulsorily sent to work down the pits to address a shortage of coal that was affecting the War effort and to remedy the lack of men to get the coal out. His unsuccessful appeal to be reconsidered for the Armed Forces resulted in him “doing his bit” down the pit instead. He was released from his War Service on 15th January 1948. He would get to meet young German men later that year in the less hostile environment of a National Association of Boys’ Clubs (NABC) residential conference at Ford Castle, Northumberland.

October 2nd 2023, marks the 75th anniversary of this meeting of former enemies in the UK. The young people who took part in this residential are shown below. My father, Tommy Platten, is in the back row, fifth from the right, wearing large white shorts. At this event, he was representing Stanley Boys’ Club from County Durham.

I have few details of the activities organised over the week of 2nd–9th October 1948. The passing of key people, changes to key organisations, paper records not being retained, and the simple passage of time have together hampered my efforts to research the event. To try to best capture the atmosphere of the week, I turned to poetry.

Engaging Former Enemies

In the shadows of Ford Castle’s walls
who amongst us would have the balls,
to approach, smile and shake a
German’s hand,
and welcome him to Northumberland.

Here not in the way he quite expected,
not dropped by parachute undetected.
Not a key role in a planned invasion,
but here, with us, at wor invitation.

Together in friendship for, us to make
a new, peaceful Europe, for all our
sakes.
Recent history can’t be forgotten.
In War, we’d have taken each other’s
lives,

If it meant we would have survived.
So, we grate along, not wrapped in
cotton wool.
As we investigate common ground,
seeking to put some foundations down.

Unfortunately, none of the delegates at this conference were from Boys’ Clubs in Lancashire or Yorkshire. I have a strong feeling that this was not the only residential of its kind organised by NABC. Given the strength of the Boys’ Club movement in Lancashire and Yorkshire, I wondered if any NorthernLife readers may have any information about other residentials in the 1940s that NABC organised at Ford Castle, Northumberland or other venues. I am very happy to share and swap information about these residentials with anyone who has complementary details. I can be contacted at my email address: wjplatten@gmail.com

NorthernLife Sep/Oct 23