Harrogate Herald - 27th March 1940

A Staff Sergeant in the Ordnance Corps of the Canadian Contingent concludes his leave in Harrogate today. He is Walter Beer, a native of the town, whose late parents, Mr and Mrs Maurice Walter Beer began work as a plumber at the store opposite the Dragon Hotel. On account of his health, Mr Beer emigrated with his wife and two sons, Walter Beer and William Beer, to Canada in 1912. they settled in Toronto and it was here that Walter started work as a plumber, a trade which he had started to learn in a brief apprenticeship with the late Charles Scholes. Later, he studied engineering and afterwards became associated with the municipal undertaking, and is now a station engineer.

He married and has a family of three daughters and two sons. His father passed away just after the Great war, and his mother about ten years ago.

Mr Beer and his brother William, came over with the Canadian contingent in the last war. Walter was twice wounded and gassed. William was wounded in the head and both knees. Despite his experiences of warfare, Walter volunteered again and was accepted, but William was not considered fit enough for another campaign.

During his visit to Harrogate, Walter Beer has been staying with Christopher Burnett, a retired railwayman living in Providence Terrace, whose son, Sydney, lives in Toronto. Mr Beer knows him very well and had the sad tidings to convey to Mr Burnett that Sydney's wife had passed away.

During the last war, Walter Beer paid a fleeting visit to Harrogate, but on the present occasion he has had more time to spend and has met many relatives and friends of his boyhood days. He had a look at Grove Road Council School and recollected a former well known headmaster, Mr Threapleton. He also had a chat with Alderman Harry Bolland, a former playmate.