Conisborough U.D.C. – Communal Feeding – Resent Delay

July 1941

Mexborough & Swinton Times, July 12

Communal Feeding

Conisborough U.D.C.

Resent Delay

Criticisms of the Ministry of Home Security’s decision to curtail the air raid shelter programme, the distribution of foodstuffs in the Conisborough area, and the delay following the council’s request for arrangements to be made for communal feeding were expressed by Conisborough councillors at the Councils monthly meeting on Wednesday.

Coun. Ben Roberts presided and welcomed Coun. G. Cheshire, who succeeds the late Coun. T. J. Gregory as a representative of the North Ward.

Coun. J.T.E. Collings commented upon the absence of a reply from the Divisional Food Officer at Leeds to the proposals submitted by the Council handling communal feeding.  Woman from Conisborough were having to go to Mexborough, Doncaster and Rotherham to get food for their families and he thought they should press the people concerned to do something in the matter of food distribution, and of communal feeding, which should be in operation by September.

Coun. A. Wellings expressed the opinion that there was no need for communal feeding, providing that there was good food distribution.

After stating that the distribution of food had hardly improved during the past six months, Coun. R. H. Shepherd said if more coal was to be produced the miners must get more nourishment.

Coun. H. Gomersall suggested that they should do all they could to obtain communal feeding and this would relieve the situation.

It was decided to draw the attention of the Divisional Food Officer to the food situation at Conisborough and to urge more equitable distribution, and also to point out the urgent need for communal feeding.

The position of the people of the East Ward with regard to air raid shelters was brought up by Coun. A. M. Carlin, who said that some idea of the difficulty would be gathered when he mentioned that there were 400 houses without shelters.  After other councillors had voiced their dissatisfaction the Surveyor (Mr. H. Thirlwall) pointed out that shelters had not been erected in that ward, as was at first planned, because there had been a change of policy by the Ministry of Home Security, and the shelter programme had been curtailed.  A resolution moved by Coun. Carlin that a letter of protest be sent to the Regional Commissional for Civil Defence, asking that the ban on the building of shelters be lifted was carried.

The Surveyor announced that in the 13 months salvage campaign £264 has been raised and nearly a hundred tons of valuable material and 12,000 jars and bottles had been salvaged.