239934 Lancelot Helman Auxiliary Fire Service from:Manchester My father Lancelot Helman was born on 3rd September 1912 in Manchester to Morris and Bertha Helman. He was active in union work and was one of the leaders, in Manchester, of the organisation of the 1932 Mass Trespass on Kinder. He worked as a cutter and also as a machinist in a clothing factory, where he met Elizabeth (Betty) his wife. They were married in 1934.
Dad joined the Auxiliary Fire Service either just before the outbreak of the War or just after. The AFS merged with the NFS National Fire Service after hostilities began. This is when I began to be aware of him and some of the things that happened to him.
He went as a fire fighter to a number of cities in the UK, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry and London. I remember him coming home from one of these and that night taking mum and me into our shelter while he went back into the house. He spent the night under the kitchen table. It turned out that the had been sent to a fire and on arrival found that there had been a direct bomb hit on a shelter there were no survivors. Another time I was helping mum make the bed, she was worried because he has not arrived home. I looked out of the window and said here he is. She looked out and said no that is a black man but on closer look realised it was dad covered in soot and dirt. He unusually had a clean-up before he came home. One Christmas all the fire crews were in Liverpool which was taking a beating. The party had been going for some time when news came that a crew had been hit by a bomb. No one knew which crew. As time went by different crews came in and their families disappeared. The party was spoilt, we were not the last to leave and it turned out it was not a crew from our area.
|