Cookbook sales fuel community transport

Kind-hearted residents at a Merlin Housing Society sheltered housing scheme have donated money from the sale of a wartime cookbook to a community transport group.

Memories Are Made of This was published by residents at Quaker Court in Thornbury last year after they decided to jot down their favourite recipes from the Second World War. Rationing meant that families had to make every piece of food count and came up with inventive ways to make the best use of everything, even the leftovers.

So unlike modern cookbooks which ask chefs to use only the finest ingredients, Memories Are Made of This features recipes using pigs trotters, ox hearts, conger eel and pigs heads. Alongside the recipes are the wartime stories of the residents themselves together with pictures from their scrapbooks.

The book has proved a big hit and has been selling like hotcakes since going on sale in December. Now residents have decided to give something back to the community by donating some of the money raised from the sale of the books to the Four Towns & Vale Link Community Transport charity.

Joan Ward, who contributed the recipe for pigs trotters sandwiches, presented a cheque for £200 to the charity on behalf of the residents.

“We decided we wanted to give some of the money we have raised to a charity,” she said. “I suggested we give it to Four Towns as lots of people here use them and they do a really good job.

“I would like to thank all the residents who contributed to the cookbook; it was a real group effort and I am really pleased we have been able to make this donation.”

Cllr Shirley Holloway, chairman of Four Towns & Vale Link Community Transport, was presented with the donation at Quaker Court on Tuesday.

“We are really grateful to the residents of Quaker Court for their generous donation,” she said. “It is lovely cookbook full of wonderful memories and I was so pleased to be able to come and visit those responsible for writing it.

“I hope we will be able to help residents at Quaker Court and the surrounding area for many years to come.

All but one of Quaker Court’s residents were born before or during the war.
One worked with the boffins at Bletchley Park to crack German transmission codes, another was a part of Britain’s Land Army, while another worked as a nurse helping treat burns victims. Clem Martin, the only male resident at Quaker Court, served in the territorial regiment of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and commanded tanks in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

Copies of the cookbook are still available and cost £5.99. To buy a copy send your name and address, together with a cheque made out to Quaker Court Resident Club to: Memories are Made of This, Quaker Court, Quaker Lane, Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, BS35 2NY.