Empire day and Wartime in Kingham

During WWII, part of the Lainchbury works at Kingham was involved in vital war work, and to that end on October 7th 1940 Lainchbury and Sons Ltd commenced munitions work for the war effort, largely organized by Mr  Charles  Lainchbury. 

Throughout the war, a range of items were made including rocket heads and parts for mines such as bulk heads for magnetic mines.

It is not known exactly what items Lainchburys manufactured for the war effort however one item in particular remained on the official secrets list into the 1960’s, sometime after the war had ended.

During the war Lainchbury's continued to manufacture their normal peace time agricultural items as these were also essential for the war effort.

By May 1940 the German armies had swept through Europe and within a short time had occupied most of it. Britain was on it's own. On May 14th Anthony Eden appealed for men to join the Local Defence Volunteers, later changed to The Home Guard, commonly known as 'Dad's Army'.  Many men from Kingham responded to the call.  At the start they only had two rifles and ten rounds of ammunition. As the war continued some recruits lost interest so Mrs H.L. Scott offered a cup to encourage them, it was awarded to H.G. Hoverd for the greatest number of attendances.

 In December 1944 they wore uniforms for the last time when the No 5 platoon made up of men from Kingham, Sarsden and Churchill met for a dinner in the village hall. The history of Kingham home guard is fully covered in the book Kingham the beloved place published in 1957 by the Alden press and written by E.J.Lainchbury junior.