Veterans Connection: Peterborough

By Nigel Bovey

IT was while working as a teenager at Peterborough Conservative Club that Will Cleaver started to hear war stories – not the ones out of comic books but those from the lips of those who saw and heard what should never be seen or heard. Over a game of snooker, Will became a valued listening ear for veterans who needed to talk but who didn’t want to upset friends or family. Later, he went on to become a precision engineer and a pub landlord, where listening skills and an acceptance of people are useful and necessary attributes.

Will started working for SatCoL after suffering a bout of pneumonia.

‘The illness left me in a bit of a fug,’ he says. ‘A friend suggested helping out at the Peterborough Salvation Army shop. I needed something to occupy me, so I volunteered. I enjoyed it so much that when the assistant manager position came up I went for it.’

That was nine years ago. Today, Will is the manager of the SATCoL superstore and community hub in Long Causeway, Peterborough. Running the three-storey store keeps Will busy but he has never forgotten the lessons of the past, particularly when it comes to helping military veterans.

‘Throughout the year, we have a library of military books and records on the first floor of the shop,’ he says. ‘Some years ago, a distinguished gentleman named Mr Moore (we never knew him by his first name) gave us two folders with the strict instruction that they should be made available to the public. They contained the name, rank, number and burial site of every lad from Peterborough and Market Deeping from both world wars who never made it home. At his funeral, we learned that during the war he had served in Burma and that he dealt with PTSD by becoming a clown – a secret he kept to his grave.’

Last June, for Armed Forces Day, Will and his team made a special effort for the shop’s eye-catching window display.

‘We had a World War Two Willys Jeep, and a trench. In the past, we’ve had military reenactors, but they were busy elsewhere this year.’

The build-up to Remembrance Day is an opportunity to remind passers-by and window-shoppers of the price of freedom.

‘This year we honoured the Royal Air Force with the theme “Their Finest Hour”. We had two black Lancaster bombers in the window. On Remembrance Sunday, we opened the shop to serve hot drinks and biscuits to the veterans who attended the city’s cenotaph service.’

For Will Cleaver, honouring those who have served their country lasts for more than two minutes of silence. It is something he has done for years, every day of the year, ever since he potted poppy-red snooker balls with war veterans.