A Christmas meal at Lewisham Military Hospital WWI

Christmas was often celebrated with official approval during the WWI as it was considered important to boost morale. In military hospitals like Lewisham Military Hospital, wounded soldiers would have been joined by army officers, nurses and doctors to celebrate the festive season. Wars were decorated. Food was often plentiful as this dinner menu card from 1915 shows.

Dinner menu Lewisham Military Hospital 1915 ©Lewisham Local History and Archives

The reverse of the menu card shows the programme with details of the evening’s entertainments. It reveals the titles of songs sung. The names of individual soldiers are listed making this archive item a rare record of ordinary men whose existence might otherwise have been lost to history. As such this simple menu is a snapshot of a moment in time in the First World War taken from a local perspective.

Dinner menu programme Lewisham Military Hospital 1915 ©Lewisham Local History and Archives

Julie Robinson, Local Studies Librarian

Enquiries: local.studies@lewisham.gov.uk

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Free History Tour St Mary's Church, Lewisham 26 January 2019

St Mary’s Church, Lewisham is the oldest building in the London Borough of Lewisham. Find out about it’s history on a FREE tour with local historian Julian Watson. No booking needed. Meet inside the church 11.00am. Tour takes approximately 2 hours. Saturday 26th January 2019. Suitable for all ages.

Entrance to St Mary's Church, Lewisham

Dinner for One

Every New Year’s Eve millions of people all over Germany sit down to watch an 18 minute British comedy sketch called Dinner for One. 

It holds the Guinness World Records for the number of repeats having been shown on German TV every year since 1972.

Many people also enjoy this festive slapstick, by British Comedian Freddie Frinton in Denmark, Sweden and a number of other European countries. In Germany a stamp has even been issued in his honour.

Frinton plays a butler who helps his employer Miss Sophie celebrate her 90th birthday by impersonating long dead guests and downing their drinks until he is very tipsy.

This year it will be shown on British TV on New Years Eve by Sky.