OLD YACHT KEPT CHARLIE GOING
A nationwide campaign calling on those who celebrated VE Day to share their memories and old photographs has unearthed a wonderful story about life and growing up on the home front in Ayr during World War II.
Launched by meal delivery service, Parsley Box, the # ParsleyPeople campaign attracted more than 100 stories and photographs, each telling personal stories of survival during the war and elation at its end in 1945.
One of those who responded to the call was veteran Charlie Knox, from Ayr, who wrote in with his tale taleof of how a love for model boats bo got him an and his family through the wa ttw th war, and which is now keeping him bus busy under COV COVID- 19 lock lockdown. Ch Charlie, 85, sent in a photo p of him andh and his little brothe brother holding a model yacht in 1943. The y yacht, called ‘ Irene,’ had h been given to Charlie by a neighbo neighbour, who claimed her grandfather had built it some 80 years beforehand.
‘ Irene’ inspired the young Charlie’s interest in model boats and, after being passed among his family over many years, eventually she made it back to him.
After a lifetime in service in the Royal Navy, Charlie took to marine modelling once more and joined his local club.
Charlie said: “Keeping in touch with other members through email, I circulated the photo of me with some of my boats in and around my little pond to indicate how much I missed the real activity. I also had to create friends as well, so I painted Captain Jack Sparrow on my fence and made an image of Calamity Jane.”
Charlie likened the hobby of swapping photos and modelling boats as something to survive his current isolation.
He described Parsley Box as “something that would have been most welcome in 1943,” adding: “It was their request for stories that made me think of the connection of model boats that led to this situation.”