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‘The plane shook the house’: Father’s St Andrews Home Guard role recalled by retired joiner

St Andrews Home Guard circa 1943/44. David Makein is pictured back row left
St Andrews Home Guard circa 1943/44. David Makein is pictured back row left

The recent passing of the Queen has prompted lifelong St Andrews Courier reader Norrie Makein to get in touch with a letter signed by King George VI and a photograph of his father in the St Andrews Home Guard.

Norrie’s father David – a local farm worker – was in the St Andrews Home Guard from July 24 1943 until December 31 1944.

When the Second World War ended, Norrie’s father received a letter from the King which said: “In the years when our country was in mortal danger, David Makein gave generously of his time and powers to make himself ready for her defence by force of arms and with his life if need be.”

Letter sent to David Makein of St Andrews Home Guard signed by King George VI

Uniformed

Norrie, 86, a retired joiner, also has a photograph of the St Andrews Home Guard which includes his father (back row left) which he thinks was taken outside Madras College on South Street.

“My dad would be in his 50s when that picture was taken,” says Norrie, who was born at Newmill farm outside Cupar in 1935.

“He worked on different farms all round about and worked at St Nicholas Farm, next to the East Sands, at St Andrews at that time.

David Makein in St Andrews Home Guard circa 1943/44. David back row left

“My brother was in the Home Guard too but he’s not in the photo because he was called up to serve with the Royal Artillery, firing 25 pounder guns on the frontline.

“The man down at the front of the picture was Professor Rose. He stayed down Windmill Road. He was the Captain Mainwaring!”

Work on the farms

Norrie, the youngest and last surviving of nine siblings, said three of his brothers went off to war – two in the air force and one in the Royal Artillery.

Norrie explained the family lived in a now demolished house that used to sit to the left of the track running from the end of Lamond Drive down to St Nicholas Farm.

Norrie Makein (left) and members of his family outside his house at St Nicholas Farm, St Andrews, in the 1940s

“One thing I can remember during the war is the aeroplanes in the dark coming down from Brownhills,” he says.

“The house had these double doors. My dad held the door shut. My mum said ‘why are you rattling the doors?’ He would say ‘I’m trying to hold it shut!’

“He was trying to hold me down as well. My mother and my two sisters were under the table. The plane shook the house.

“The plane can’t have been very high when it went over the top!”

Retired St Andrews joiner Norrie Makein in September 2022 with photograph of St Andrews Home Guard which includes his father David

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