Saturday, 30 September 1916 saw the successful culmination of the special effort over three weeks to collect pots of jam for the Ampthill Road schools VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) hospital, reported the Bedfordshire Times and Independent of 6 October 1916.
‘Mrs Spencer, who cooks at the Hospital, thought that some special effort should be made to supply this requirement, with the result that the active assistance of the Boy Scouts was enlisted.’
The success of the scheme enabled the Organising Committee of ladies ‘to send to the Hospital the splendid contribution of over 3,500 lb of jam. To every contributor the Committee tender their sincere thanks for making the first Jam Day such a magnificent success. The Matron will present jam to Howbury Hospital for the sick and wounded; also to Miss Walmsley for free teas for wounded soldiers at the Corn Exchange.’
The Matron, Mrs Margaret Thomson, wrote to the paper to express her very great gratitude and appreciation of the truly wonderful result of Jam Day, and to all concerned for making the collection such a success.
How did your village do in the Jam Day collection stakes, and what of the poor woman with her only pot of black currant jam?
The photograph from the newspaper shows Sister Butterworth, Assistant Matron, storing a portion of the jam collection:
When the Welsh came to Bedford 