Prisoners From Edan Camp help out at Farms

Eden Camp Prisoners at Ebberston

Some of the first prisoner of War to come to the Satellite camp near Malton were Italians. They were a self-contained bunch of men as, before the war some were Doctors or Dentists, Cooks, Machinists and all trades. They could turn their hand to anything — even making clocks out of old polish tins.

They were apprehensive, as they had heard we had a food shortage and expected very little food. The pleasure on their faces when the first thing they received after they marched from Malton railway station to the camp was a good, square meal.

Edan Camp was originally an old Army Barracks and consisted of a collection of tents, and Nissan huts. 60 or 80 prisoners might be in one hut on double tier bunks.

It was under command of George. Dryland. From 1941 the Italian Prisoners were organized into working parties on Farms. They wore their own uniforms, but with a large, coloured patch stitched to their backs to identify them should they escape. A bus would drop 2 or 3 men off at each participating farm. They would be sent out with a packed meal for mid-day.
At my family’s farm at High Park, above the village of Ebberston, the prisoners sometimes lost their lunch to farm dogs, or so they said — so Mother would invite them into the farm house to share our meal. They were a friendly bunch who preferred the prison life to fighting a war.
One prisoner made a good brief case for me out of an old Officers leather overcoat. Another made a cigarette case, richly patterned with symbols :- a bird of love, a ship which would one day take him home, and my intials — his gift, he said, for kindness shown.

The prisoners lacked little. On a visit to a satellite camp at Wydale, I was offered a cup of coffee with so much sugar in it I could stand a spoon up in the mug.

This report was dictated a few years ago by the late Colin Kirby of High Park Farm, Ebberston, Nr Scarborough

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