StoryGnat #1: Alan

HELLO! Welcome. Oh wow – first one of these. Eek. If you can’t remember what you signed up for, hit this link for a quick recap.

And if you can remember, thanks again for being here.

Anyway, let’s jump straight in, yes? Fab. Here goes.

The Great Escape

My nephew says the start of Year 10 has been “fine” – which I think might be the highest level of enthusiasm that’s appropriate when you’re in the thick of your school days.

But for all that school can be a drag, there are also days that will stick in your mind forever.

For me, one of those days was when a survivor of the Great Escape came to talk to us. It was a privilege to hear about his experiences and an obvious place to start when it comes to sharing stories.

I’ll let you explore his tale for yourself, but I do vividly remember him saying it wasn’t like it was shown in the film – and his surprise when that room of 15-year-olds looked back at him a bit blankly. We’d heard of the film, but hardly any of us had seen it. I think it was perhaps the end of an era that had seen his talks shining a light on the true story of a film, and the start of one where he was telling the story to a new audience for the first time.

For years, I’d tried to work out who this man was. I didn’t have a note of his name and this was back around 1995, before the internet was big, so it was no surprise I couldn’t find him through an easy online search.

But helping my mum and dad clear their house recently, I unearthed a long-forgotten bundle of papers that turned out to be the photocopied handouts he’d given us.

And there was his name.

Alan E. Bryett.

A quick search with the right name (at last!) showed how determined he must have been to make sure the tunnels and those who lost their lives to them are remembered.

The links below take you straight to the man himself.

• This Imperial War Museum link has LOADS of recordings of him telling his story. They’re the most in-depth.

• This BBC interview is a super quick introduction.

• And this YouTube video is somewhere between the two.

The Great Escape film may be famous, but the real story is incredible, inspirational, horrific and (at times unnervingly) down-to-earth.

Please, please visit one of the links and find out a bit more about these incredible men.

OK, so that was StoryGnat #1. Let me know what you thought? And look out for the next one, coming to an inbox near you next Saturday (if you’ve signed up already - and if you haven’t, you can do that in this glorious box right here⬇️ ).

Until next time…

Meg