Weardale Community News June Edition

www.wcng.org
Weardale Community News, June 2020
Page 15
A Family at War: The McCallums of Stanhope
Colin McCallum Gordon whilst in Addis Ababa 1941 Frank and Ruth Balderstone’s marriage 1941 Royal Observer Corps Post above Stanhope
By Kate Gill
THE Weardale Museum
started
collecting
information about Dales
people who served in
WW2 for an exhibition at
the Museum in May but,
as circumstances prevent
this, we are sharing the
information in other ways.
The McCallum family had
lived and worked in Stanhope
for many years before the
outbreak of WW2, running a
tailor’s shop on Front Street.
Father Daniel had served on
the Home Front in WW1 in
the 23rd Reserve Battalion
but was declared medically
unfit for duty in 1916. He
was awarded the War Medal
for his services.
Daniel was over 50 when
WW2 was declared but he
still wanted to ‘do his bit’
so he enrolled in the Royal
Observer Corps. Daniel’s
observer post was set high
above Stanhope on the
fells near the underground
reservoir; quite a climb up
and often done during the
blackout. He wore a calliper
from an earlier accident so
this must have been quite
a struggle. Very little of
the post is left now but it
remains a place where men
from Stanhope spent hours
watching the skies for the
arrival of enemy planes.
Daniel and his wife
Elizabeth had 5 children and
all but the youngest served
during the war. Elizabeth,
like all mothers, would have
worried constantly about
her children and looked
forward to receiving their
letters.
Gordon, the eldest son,
trained as a Signaller in
the Signals Corps. He did
most of his service in north
east Africa including Addis
Ababa and Somaliland, a far
cry from the green fields of
Weardale. The fighting there
was mainly against Italian
forces.
Gordon returned to
Weardale in 1945 and
went to teach at Wearhead
School. He later taught in
Howden le Wear and then
later moved to Hunwick
where he spent the rest of
his working life.
Frank played football
for the Stanhope team as a
boy. After leaving school he
moved to Rugby to train as a
Fitter. During WW2 he joined
the Royal Navy in 1940 as an
Electrical Artificer 4th class
and trained to work with
submarines.
Frank wrote many letters
home; he clearly saw very
little of his family during
his service. He met Ruth
Balderstone and they
married in 1941 while she
was serving in the A.T.S.
His final posting was to
HMS Medway, a submarine
repair and depot ship based
Family fundraising in memory of GP,
Dr Poornima Nair
DOCTOR Poornima Nair was
a respected GP in Bishop
Auckland, in addition to
operating some private
practices in the North East
and London.
Dr Nair died on 12th
May 2020 after a 46 day
battle with COVID-19 at
University Hospital of
North Tees & Hartlepool.
One of her wishes that
she communicated to her
husband Shlokarth, while in
the intensive care unit was
to do something to show
her appreciation for the care
being provided by the nurses
and doctors.
Dr Nair’s family have
started a fundraising
campaign online to raise
£2,000 for the Intensive
Therapy Unit (ITU) at the
University Hospital Of North
Tees. Dr Nair’s son, Varun,
writes:
“As a family we have seen
how tirelessly and selflessly
the staff and doctors in the
ITU at University Hospital
of North Tees are working.
We have seen first-hand
the exemplary courage and
determination to try to
save her and all their other
patients that they have
made better. We saw their
shared pain and heartbreak
when they were unable
to save her life. We will
forever be grateful for the
excellent care she was given
throughout her time in the
ITU.
We set this page up so
that anyone who wishes
to make a tribute in her
memory can do so here.
As a token of our heartfelt
appreciation we wish that all
money raised in Poornima’s
memory will be used for the
direct well being of the ITU
staff and doctors.”
To support the campaign,
please use the link below
https://www.justgiving.
com/crowdfunding/
poornima
at Alexandria, Egypt. He
took ill whilst at sea and his
transfer to a hospital ship
was delayed.
Frank’s mother received
a telegram on 5th May
1942 informing her that
he was dangerously ill
and just two days later
she was told that he had
died from sepsis following
an appendicectomy with
complications from enteric
fever. Frank was buried
in Alexandria (Hadra)
Cemetery. He was awarded
the 1939-45 star, the Africa
Star and the War Medal.
The third of the three
brothers to join up Colin,
went into the Royal Navy
like his brother Frank and
became a Signaller like his
brother Gordon. Not much is
known about his war service
although we know that he
was in Malta in 1942 and
by September 1943 he had
been transferred to Eritrea in
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North Africa; he didn’t much
enjoy the heat! As part of his
journey he was in Alexandria
and visited his brother
Frank’s grave. Although his
brother Gordon was also in
North Africa, letters show
that they were too far apart
to meet up.
After the war he worked
as a Printing Lecturer and
lived for many years in
Wimbledon before retiring
to East Anglia.
Margaret Elizabeth,
known as Peggy, was
the eldest of two sisters.
Conscription for women
started in 1941 and they had
a choice as to whether to
join a branch of the services
or do factory or similar
work. Peggy volunteered
for service rather than be
sent to work in a factory;
this would have been about
1942.
Peggy joined the
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
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(W.A.A.F.). She served at RAF
Winkleigh in Devon where
squadrons from the Royal
Canadian Air Force were
based.
Peggy became a Leading
Aircraftswoman and worked
as a cook for the Canadian
service men. Her service
went on long after hostilities
ceased. It was 1 Oct 1946
before her discharge was
signed off at RAF Wythall,
the RAF’s Personnel Dispatch
Centre.
In August 1947 Peggy
married Leonard Craggs and
they moved to Tow Law to
live. They later returned to
Stanhope and lived in the
family home of Dales House.
The McCallums would
have been typical of many
Dales families who saw their
loved ones going away to
serve their country, sadly
many of them not returning.
This piece is part of the
Museum’s tribute to all of them.
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