Smiling volunteers served the town steaming meals on wheels

THEY were the days of meat and two veg and puddings "with lots of custard".

Hot meals served by smiling volunteers in green uniforms were organised by the Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS). Often the meals were cooked by a small team in a variety of kitchens loaned for the purpose.

Today the service is still going strong although the cooking teams - along with kitchens which didn't always meet the required standard of hygiene, health and safety - have gone. Now the meals are pre-packed and heated to the correct temperature before being delivered, again by willing helpers.

Long-serving volunteer and one-time WRVS organiser Betty Brewer, now 85, looks back with affection at her days serving meals in the East Grinstead area.

She was connected with the WRVS in Croydon as part of the hospital trolley service before moving to the town in 1982.

"Then a friend introduced me to the group in East Grinstead and I joined," she said. "I liked it because I met lots of people and it was so rewarding."

Mrs Brewer was one of three cooks in the kitchen, first at a Victorian house in Cantelupe Road and then at East Court.

She recalled setting off in her own car with the meals in a hot locker.

"In the old days you could be selective and give people what they liked," she said.

Mrs Brewer enjoyed the feeling of being on standby and ready to help wherever she was needed.

"We had a clothing store to help out needy people and their children," she said. "We often supplied the police with clothes for people who had been arrested when their own were taken away for testing."

She still misses the "wonderfully friendly" people she met and worked with.

"Now everything is more like a business," Mrs Brewer said. But she still has a great a respect for today's service "which is wonderful for people who can't cook for themselves".

The WRVS is now 71-years-old. During the war, before the "royal" was added to their title, the volunteers formed mobile canteens. They provided food to those suddenly made homeless by air raids, civil worker, rescue parties, fire fighters and demolition squads.

After she had delivered her last meal, Mrs Brewer volunteered for the St Catherine's Hospice charity shop in London Road.

"I like being with the public and listening to them," she said. "There is always someone a lot worse off than yourself."

But two hip operations have forced her to retire.

"I still mix with people whenever I can - but I miss it all terribly," she said.