Return to Bamber Bridge by David Metcalfe
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Two men make a pilgrimage to Bamber Bridge in Lancashire to honour their father's wish.
The song celebrates the refusal of local people to accept The US Army's attempts to enforce the Jim Crow laws for the black soldiers stationed in the town during World War 2.
2023 is the 80th anniversary of The Battle of Bamber Bridge.
Cracking song. And with Bamber Bridge being my home, it makes me even more proud to be a ‘brigger’.
Really excellent song and haunting guitar
Great song when you know the history behind it.
Great song!
Living close to the Hob Inn in Bamber Bridge, it’s great to see a permanent memorial to this significant historical event in the town’s history. This is a fantastic song and a fitting tribute to highlight what occurred at the time.
I thought you might be interested in the details of my latest play:
The Battle of Bamber Bridge
This is a dramatic retelling of the events that occurred on the evening of 24th June 1943 when in the sleepy village of Bamber Bridge just outside Preston in NW England, a battle raged for several hours between White American Military Police and Black American soldiers. By the end, Private William Crossland lay fatally wounded, shot in the back and 17 other Black American soldiers were injured. At the court-martial, the Black soldiers were accused of mutiny and 27 were sentenced to up to 10 years of hard labour. The battle was hushed up for fear it would weaken morale.
The locals welcomed the Black Soldiers and accepted them as ordinary human beings whereas the deeply racist Military Police...that's what the story is all about!
As part of the official commemoration, we performed a shortened version of a new play which portrays the events leading up to the Battle as well as the Battle itself. This commemoration took place in Bamber Bridge last Saturday, 80 years to the day after it happened.
We all know how expensive putting on a theatre show can be, even though this was for one performance only it cost around £4,900 because of our insane insistence that actors and crew should be paid for their work!
We got audience reaction to the show and will use that as well as visual and audio recordings to secure Arts Council funding for a full run of the show later this year. We also collected £230 in donations which have been paid into the Kickstarter but that still leaves us at just over 51% of the £2,000 we hope to raise and we only have 4 days left for it to run!
if you could spare a moment to take a look, help publicise the Kickstarter or even make a small donation, then I'd be very grateful!
There are more details on our Kickstarter campaign site:
kck.st/3NtlOD5
Thanks!
Both G.I.s shot in the initial incident, described as a riot, made complete recoveries. The G.I. who was shot later in BB, William Crossland, was most likely wounded (and later died) by one of the rifle and carbine bullets which were bouncing off rooves etc. as the 30+ G.I.s, armed and in fatigues and helmets, were shooting at anything being driven down Station Rd. on that terrifying night. Still, that incident went a long way towards desegregation in the US armed forces in 1948.