Bournemouth Warship Week cinderella label

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c. 1942

Overview

Cinderella label/stamp in the colours of red, white and blue, sold to raise money for Bournemouth Warship Week.
At the top, it has the Royal Naval Ensign on the left side and the Union Jack flag on the right. Below that, on a bright blue scroll are the dates of the campaign. The rest of the label is red with white lettering and outline of a ship.
The reverse of the label is dried adhesive.
These labels would have been stuck to correspondence to raise awareness of Warship Week. Despite looking like stamps, they had no monetary value in terms of postage.

Historical information

Warship Week was one of the British National War Savings campaigns during WWII. It specifically raised money with the aim of a Royal Navy warship being adopted by a civil community. .
There were similar schemes which raised money for the Army (Salute the Soldier Week) and Air Force (Wings for Victory Week).

During the early parts of the war, the Royal Navy had not only lost many capital ships but was facing increasing pressure to provide escorts for convoys in the Atlantic. While there was no shortage of sailors, ships sunk by enemy action had to be replaced.
A level of savings was set to raise enough money to provide the cost of building a particular naval ship. The aim was for cities to raise enough to adopt battleships and aircraft carriers, while towns and villages focused on cruisers and destroyers. Smaller towns and villages were set a lower figure. Once the target money was saved for the ship, the community adopted the ship and its crew.
Local charity organisations, churches and schools provided the crews of the adopted ship with gloves, woollen socks and balaclavas. Children often wrote letters and sent cards to the crew. When possible officers and men from the adopted ship visited the local community. To celebrate their visit a parade was often organised in their honour.
The ship's commanding officer exchanged plaques, objects and photographs with the city or town that reached the target set, and an adoption began. The number of warships adopted was over 1,200, number including battleships, cruisers, destroyers and trawlers.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00040

Item type

Collectibles

Ephemera

Postage Stamps

Themes

War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 2

Material

Adhesive

Paper