Commemorating Filey's WW2 service personnel

In July 2020, we were contacted with a simple enquiry: is there a plaque commemorating the contributions of Caribbean servicemen in Filey? The answer to this was ‘no’ but it brought this issue into sharp focus.

It was an omission not previously considered and started a conversation with Scarborough Borough Council and Filey Town Council to gather support for this idea, brought forward from the family of Gilmour Westcarr.
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Gilmour’s nephew, Glenn, had come across his uncle's name on the African Stories website during a casual trawl of the internet while starting some family research.

​Although at the time, little was written about Gilmour, Glenn was interested in the wider stories about the RAF servicemen and he was able to say something about his much-loved uncle:

Entrance arch to Filey Memorial Gardens, Murray Street, Filey

“Family legend has it that [Gilmour] returned to Jamaica and told his younger brother, my father, of the warm welcome he had received while stationed in Filey. This persuaded my father to travel with him to the UK in 1954 where he eventually settled in Leeds.

"One story that was recounted by relatives was something that Uncle Gil told me himself when he was alive. He said that when stationed in Filey, he went to a local tobacconist shop and the name above the door was Mr and Mrs Westcarr. Gil told the owners that his name was also Westcarr and that he had traced his family tree back to two slave overseers called James and George Westcarr who came from Scotland. The rather startled owner said that his family also hailed from Scotland and his ancestors were James and George, so right then and there in a tobacconist shop in Filey, the whole family history would have come full circle. A wonderful story if true. Sadly, Gilmour passed away in Gloucester in 2012."

As a result of this enquiry, a collaboration has begun with Filey Town Council, Scarborough Borough Council, the Westcarrs and other families to install a commemoration plaque and interpretation board to honour the Caribbean RAF service personnel.

Furthermore, as Scarborough is the location for Armed Service Day 2021 (postponed from last year due to Covid-19), it is hoped that the contributions of the service personnel will be acknowledged during the event. 

There are further additions to the archive of more service personnel who contributed to the war efforts and are remembered by their families. We will add more as we get them and would welcome further submissions in celebration of these remarkable lives - please get in touch.
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• Read the first story of the RAF recruits in WW2 on Gilmour Westcarr
• Explore the series