Week 1
Inspiration: The film Dunkirk
Recently, I went to see the film Dunkirk drawn by an overheard snippet of conversation about location filming in Dorset. I was born in Dorchester and spent the first seven years of my life there. It's a soft, rolling, rural county with a beautiful coast line and I love it.
The film has three distinct story strands. One involves an older man and his son setting sail in their small vessel from Weymouth to Dunkirk, answering the call to assist with the evacuation of 400,000 service men stranded on the beach in France. My cousin told me a story about his Mum which links to this. One evening in 1940, Betty aged thirteen, travelled from Dorchester with her parents to watch the small boats carrying evacuated soldiers arrive into Weymouth harbour.
The three of them were leaning over the rail near the town bridge watching as French soldiers were unloaded on to the steps below. They noticed how war worn, dishevelled and emotional the soldiers were - kissing the ground as they came ashore and throwing their personal belongings towards the watching crowd.
One soldier threw this necklace and it landed at Betty's feet. She's kept it ever since.
I wonder what happened to that soldier? I hope he recovered from his war experiences.
See the film - it is an immersive experience and as such provides the smallest glimpse into what they went through.
