A three-year-old boy drowned at a pool at The Circle, Pinehurst, but the family could have faced a double tragedy if it hadn’t been for the prompt actions of a young girl.

Joan Broom, pictured, an 11-year-old Guide who had seen the of Derek Mason in the water, suddenly noticed his two year old brother hovering by the edge of the pool. She rushed forward and pulled the little boy away, placing him in the charge of a woman passer by before rushing to the nearby ARP Post to get help. Joan then returned to the pool to see if she could provide any further assistance.

The child had apparently wandered through a gap in the protective fence, closely followed by his younger brother and had fallen into the water.

Despite the attempts of Mr WR Howell, the ARP wardens and members of the AFS, the child could not be revived.

“In view of the danger to children of these water pools, men of the AFS are detailed each night to see that the protective fencing around them is intact,” reported the Advertiser. “The fencing at The Circle was all right when inspected the previous night, reports the Fire Brigade, but on Sunday a portion of it had been torn down.”

Mr GA Mason,the father of the two boys, told how quick thinking young Joan refused to accept anything in recognition of her conduct. The grieving father was convinced that her prompt action had prevented a double tragedy, and said that he intended writing to the Guide Commissioner about the young Guide.

Joan, the daughter of Quarter Master Sergeant and Mrs J. Broom, had only recently moved to Pinehurst with her mother and brother.

WIFE'S HOPES DASHED AS DEATH CONFIRMED

The long, agonising wait was over for Mrs KB Edwards, of 39 Salisbury Street when she eventually received official confirmation of her husband’s death.

Driver Albert Edwards of the RASC was on board the Lancastria when it was sunk off the Brest coast in July 1940.

Mrs Edwards had hoped against hope that perhaps her husband had reached a raft or a boat and had been taken a prisoner of war.

Sadly she learned this week, ten months after the event that his body had been washed up on the south west coast of Ars en Re where he had been buried.

Driver Edwards had previously worked at the Pressed Steel works at Oxford before the outbreak of war.

The couple were pictured on their wedding day on January 1, 1940 while the bridegroom was on leave from the BEF.

CRACK DOWN ON WASTAGE

With food at a premium three boys appeared before Swindon Juvenile Court magistrates charged with stealing a tin of corned beef weighing six pounds. The boys later trampled on the meat and threw it into water, making it inedible.

The boys aged 11 and 12 had got into the larder of Mr George Morris’s café in Regent Street. Two of them were later spotted by a police constable who gave chase and caught one.

“Details of the boys’ milk thieving were given by Inspector Hawkins, one boy in particular having stolen quite a number of bottles from doorsteps,” reported the Advertiser.

All three boys were placed on probation while the ringleader, described by his mother as being out of control, awaited placement at a special school.

And the Advertiser exposed a disgraceful wastage of rationed foodstuffs found on a tip in Oxford Road, Stratton St Margaret.

In recent weeks Mr C Johnson, who was in charge of the tip, reported finding two half pounds of butter, three pounds of sugar, a tin of treacle, a jar of mincemeat and bread and cakes.

“Those responsible ran great risks,” reported the Advertiser, “as it was illegal to waste foodstuffs of any character.”