What was it like cordinating The Round Table relief effort? James Claughton 2

What was it like coordinating The Round Table relief effort?

Well, it was quite exciting. I had great help from… I co-ordinated the three Round Tables with the help of a chap called Mr Jones, who was the manager of Barclay’s Bank. And it was quite exciting having a coffee with him every morning and counting the money coming in. That was exciting. Two people went in every case and we took note of anything that they were short of. Coal was a major thing. I think the majority of them, people had a ton of coal delivered. Food was another. And don’t forget, if they’d lost a child, a youngster, whoever they lost, it was a distressing time for them. We needed to be as careful as we could. All we could do really was look after their immediate requirements. Make certain that they had no debts. Cash was given in certain case. I have a full list somewhere. I gave something to the Hull Daily Mail once, but I don’t know whether they’ve got it now. Yes, going to see the people was difficult. Yes, it was very difficult, was that and some people handled it better than others. We were only in our twenties and thirties and not one of us would have experienced being on a trawler, as far as I recollect. So yes, we were very aware and surprisingly enough I saw, within probably six months prior to that, I saw the Scarborough lifeboat go down. And it went down with the loss of all the people on board within 50 yards of the harbour. So that was a rough sea that day.