Were you aware that as battle raged in Europe, war-weary Bath opened its heart to famished civilians in a Nazi-occupied city?

In World War II, Bathonians forgot their own shortages, fought bureaucracy and dug deep for the Dutch people of Alkmaar. Then, after liberation, shocked Bath aid organisers discovered Alkmaar children shoeless and dressed in tatters. They offered fifty youngsters a slap-up Bath Christmas after five years of privation and warm-hearted households back in Bath opened their homes.

The following year, the Dutch invited one hundred Bath children to Holland, beginning an 80-year friendship. Chris Davies, Chair of the Bath-Alkmaar Twinning Association, recounts the decades-old story of defiance of red tape, fund-raising grit, a Dutch queen, a warm-hearted General, and the barrel-organ that persuaded Bathonians to donate pennies to the cause.