The Swaffham Crier Online

WI Notes

Our Speaker, Mr Stephen Brookes, painted a sombre but fascinating picture of how he and his family who were living in Burma during the 1940s found themselves trapped in the path of the advancing Japanese army. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, they set off for China, encountering ambushes, monsoons, jungle, high mountains, being machine-gunned and made destitute and finally ending up in India months later after a three thousand mile journey. After family deaths, Stephen, aged eleven, was forced to take charge of his remaining family. Tens of thousands of fellow refugees died. His book, "Through the Jungle of Death"describes the full story of this amazing brave man.

The November 19th meeting is a trips to Waitrose in Newmarket for a talk on "Cheeses". Contact Betty Fox for details.

Betty Prime