Withywood Tenants Share Wartime Stories and Handmade Tributes
This Remembrance Day, Withywood, a ShireLiving Extra Care scheme operated by Housing Plus Group, has seen tenants mark the occasion through personal stories and creative tributes. The display brings together wartime artefacts, family recollections, and handmade contributions, honouring not only those who served but also the families who carried their memories forward.
Joan Backhouse, 95, a tenant at Withywood, has contributed a display of medals and photographs that trace her family’s connection to both World Wars. Her father, Henry, survived the First World War but never spoke of it. His brothers, Sergeant John Rogers and Edward, were both killed in 1917 — John at just 22, Edward at 30. Their names are listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.
The medals now on display were gathered by Joan’s cousin, who spent decades piecing together the family’s military history. Now mounted on the wall with poppies and photographs, they’ve become a talking point for other residents and visitors. Joan said: “They’re not just medals, they’re part of our story. It’s nice that everyone else gets to enjoy them too.”
Joan has her own memories of the Second World War. She remembers her aunt cycling miles each morning to deliver milk, and a horse that completed its delivery round alone after its rider stopped for tea. Her cousin was killed on D-Day, and his father, a postmaster, had to deliver the telegram himself. “He had to deliver his own telegram… to say his son had been killed,” she said. Closer to home, Joan recalls the bombings around Monkmoor and Ellesmere Road in Shrewsbury, including one that killed a woman and her two grandchildren. Her father believed the bomb may have been dropped on the way back from a raid, mistaking reflections from greenhouses as a target.
Susan Burroughs, 82, another resident, has shared a remarkable collection of wartime artefacts and personal stories passed down from her father, who worked for Woolworths throughout the war. She said: “Even though he was a director and buyer, they all had to take on the superintendent’s job because all the able-bodied ones had gone off to war.” His work took him across the country, including to the Isle of Man, where travel was risky due to submarine activity.
He was deeply affected by the hardship he witnessed on the Isle of Man, especially among prisoners of war. She said: “It used to upset him terribly. He’d say they had nothing, barely enough food, and yet they were highly skilled.” One of the items Sue has displayed is a photo frame made entirely from straw, crafted by a prisoner of war. “It’s beautiful. If you take the photo out, it’s all in the back as well — it’s completely covered.”
Another object is a lipstick fused to a penny, salvaged from the ruins of the Woolworths store in Liverpool after it was bombed. Sue said: “The lipstick must have melted and soldered itself onto the penny. He was sent to visit the store after it had been bombed and picked it up from the ruins as a kind of memento.”
These personal contributions sit alongside a creative tribute from the Knit and Natter group at Withywood, who have been supporting Remembrance by crafting poppies and knitted dolls representing service men and women. Their work is now on display throughout the scheme, with a poppy-themed postbox topper outside for the wider community.
These contributions at Withywood sit alongside commemorations across all our ShireLiving schemes in Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Telford & Wrekin. From knitted poppies and personal displays to ceremonies and shared reminiscence, tenants and staff have been observing Remembrance in ways that feel meaningful to them and their communities.
11th November 2025