Dear Editor
I live in Darlington and I’m currently researching for a book about Warship Week in WW2.
The Weardale area raised over £62,000 ( the equivalent of raising nearly £4m today) to adopt the minesweeping ex-trawler, HMS Kingston Amber. As part of the adoption process the local council would then have been presented with the ship’s crest on a shield shaped plaque by the Admiralty. Warship Week took place in Weardale over March 7th – 14th 1942.
These were usually put on display in the local town hall or in a public building. In return the council would have presented the ship with a plaque to be affixed on board saying that the vessel had been adopted by Weardale. This plaque would have been returned to the council when the ship was decommissioned at the end of the war.
After the 1974 boundary changes when the small councils were absorbed into larger authorities the plaques disappeared. Durham County Council and “The Story” archive don’t have them, so where are they?
Can I ask your readers if they know of the whereabouts of the shield and plaque or if anyone in the area has any memorabilia of the Warship Week in Weardale I may be able to use in my book?
Thank you,
