Published: 02/02/2010 14:28 - Updated: 03/02/2010 12:59

I WAS interested in Bill Millward’s letter about the field guns outside the Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School.

When I was a young boy, my mother (Ivy Breeze) used to tell me the story of these guns.

Apparently these were German guns brought back from either France or Flanders at the end of the First world war, probably by a local regiment.

They were placed either side of the entrance to the town hall. This upset the local soldiers and ex-soldiers who considered them an insult to all the local men who had fought and died in the war.

One night after a few drinks in the pub a group of these soldiers and ex-soldiers decided that something had to be done. It was decided to throw the guns into the fishpond, but of course they were extremely heavy being intended to be pulled by tractor or horses.

The men were struggling to pull the guns but news soon spread around the town and lots of people came to help, some pulling and pushing and others shouting encouragement. Eventually the guns reached the fishpond and were cast into it— to a huge cheer.

When the authorities pulled the guns out, they decided to place them outside QEGS, which seemed to satisfy the soldiers and ex-soldiers, since they were no longer in the centre of town.

When Mum told me the story she could name some of the men involved, but I have forgotten these names with the exception of one. It would seem that my Grandad— Tom Harrison was amongst the gun party.

It is some sixty years since Mum told me this story so I cannot guarantee that I have remembered the story correctly.

JIM BREEZE CHESTNUT DRIVE