"During the week of November 15th to 22nd, 1941, the men, women and children of West Bromwich, whose signatures appear in this book, saved and lent to help pay for the building of H.M. Warship Galatea, on which a metal plaque records for all to see, the efforts made at this memorable time.
It is the wish of those citizens that this book shall be carried on H.M.S. Galatea during her entire period of active service, and returned when victory is ours to West Bromwich with the commander and crew inscribed therein."
To compile this signature book was a huge task. Pages were distributed to schools, work places, libraries, etc. all over the town, where signatures were added, and then all the pages collected and compiled into this huge leather bound volume of almost 900 pages in two columns. The result is a fascinating record of the people of West Romwich, from the confident signatures of the well educated, to the simplistic hand of the school children.
Is your signature in this book? Or perhaps those of your parents and grand parents? Or those of your classmates?
