It was easy for prisoners to get bored because they were locked up in the camp the whole time.

They had to find fun things to do.

In the scrapbook which Glan kept in the prison, he wrote about things the prisoners enjoyed doing.

They included gardening; sports such as rugby, football, basketball, and athletics; and games such as chess and poker. 

There were lots of people who liked to put on plays and shows. 

Glan acted in some of the plays.

The prisoners, who called themselves Kriegies, also created a small golf course inside the camp.

Glan volunteered to make golf balls using string, bits of old shoe, and plasters.

Sometimes they accidentally broke a hut window with a golf ball.

<table><thead><tr><th scope="col" colspan="2">Tricky Word</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th scope="row">Kriegies:</th><td>A slang word taken from the German for ‘prisoners of war’.</td></tr></tbody></table>

Boredom was a major issue for prisoners. It could make their lives even harder.

Therefore, it was important that they found ways to keep themselves occupied inside the camp. 

Glan joined the people running the theatre, putting on plays and variety shows with singing, dancing, and joke-telling.

In his notes, Glan noted the following pastimes which prisoners liked to do: gardening; rugby; soccer; golf; basketball; athletics; drama; singing/orchestra; and games such as chess and poker. 

Often sports matches pitched people of different nationalities against each other. Welsh prisoner Ken Rees, who was born in Wrexham, organised the Wales team. 

Glan was keen on golf ‒ a sport which was to become a major part of camp life. 

The prisoners created a nine-hole golf course in various areas of the East Compound, mainly in straight sections between the barrack huts and the perimeter fence.

Glan volunteered to make golf balls. He made these of string or cotton, and the soles of old gym shoes, which he then covered with plasters (meant for cuts). Later, he and other prisoners began to make the balls from rubber and cover them with tightly-sewn leather.

Golf resulted in a few mishaps. A number of hut windows were smashed. Balls landed under huts and beyond the warning wire. One took the head off a tomato plant being grown by a prisoner.

Despite these accidents, golf became a huge boost to the prisoners’ morale.

<table><thead><tr><th scope="col" colspan="2">Vocabulary Checkpoint</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th scope="row">Variety shows:</th><td>Concerts featuring different kinds of acts and performances.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row">Perimeter:</th><td>Boundary around the sides.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row">Volunteered:</th><td>Offered to do a job without pay.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row">Mishaps:</th><td>Unlucky events or accidents.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row">Morale:</th><td>State of mind, and whether someone is happy or not.</td></tr></tbody></table>

Boredom was a major issue for prisoners. It could make their lives even harder.

Therefore, it was important that they found ways to keep themselves occupied inside the camp. These allowed them to mix with others and to stay fit and well, despite their circumstances. 

Glan joined the people who ran the theatre, putting on plays and variety shows with singing, dancing, and joke-telling.

In his notes, Glan listed the following pastimes prisoners liked to do: gardening; rugby; soccer; golf; basketball; athletics; drama; singing/orchestra; and games such as chess and poker. 

Often sports matches pitched people of different nationalities against each other. Welsh prisoner Ken Rees, who was born in Wrexham, organised the Wales team. When he could not find enough players, he asked anyone with a traditional Welsh-sounding surname to join the team.

Glan was keen on golf ‒ a sport which was to become a major part of camp life. 

In the summer of 1943, the prisoners created a nine-hole golf course in various areas of the East Compound, mainly in straight sections between the barrack huts and the perimeter fence.

‘Less suitable conditions for golf could scarcely be imagined’, one of Glan’s friends wrote in Glan’s scrapbook.

At first, the men had only one golf club between them and there were no holes ‒ the winner had to hit a pole or one of the tree stumps which had been left in the compound when the camp was built.

Later they made more clubs and eventually had about 100 prisoners who wanted to play. Groups ‒ like the crowd at a golf tournament ‒ would walk with the players as a game progressed.

Glan volunteered to make golf balls. He made these of string or cotton, and the soles of old gym shoes, which he then covered with plasters (meant for cuts). Later, he and other prisoners began to make the balls from rubber and cover them with tightly sewn leather.

Golf resulted in a few mishaps. A number of hut windows were smashed. Balls landed under huts and beyond the warning wire. One took the head off a tomato plant being grown by a prisoner.

Despite these accidents, golf became a huge boost to the prisoners’ morale.

A friend wrote in Glan’s prison scrapbook: ‘It cannot be too highly stressed just how much this golf has meant to so many of us. At a time when everything seemed to stand still and the future was more remote than ever, a new interest appeared in the shape of golf and once more the days slipped by healthily and not unpleasantly. Speaking for myself, it was the saving grace, and I know that scores of others agree with me.’

Boredom was a major issue for prisoners. It could make their lives even harder.

Prisoners of War

Hobbies and pastimes