Churchill secret army

Churchills  Secret Army
During WW2 there was a serious threat of invasion to Great Britain by the German Army and to prepare for this Winston Churchill created a secret organisation of Auxillary Units to form a British resistence.
In early 1940 men and women around the country joined up and selected groups went on to be chosen for the secret mission. They also had to sign up to the Official Secrets Act, therefore they were not even able to tell their families what they were part of.
            In Newton Poppleford and Southerton there were 8 such men
              Sgt Percy Retter, Reginald Stone, George Cross, Jack Pyle,
           Arthur Garnsworthy, Frank Haslam, Dan Pring and Arthur Rose
These men were trained to survive in the wild, use automatic weapons, explosives, knives and how to assassinate. So that should the Germans reach British shores the men would secretly and silently leave their lives and families and 'disappear' to their Operational Bases. This was an underground bunker that had been dug and prepared in a hidden copse at the back of Venn Ottery. This bunker overlooked the whole valley enabaling them to keep a lookout whilst remaining hidden. The men were all familiar with the local area and would wait for the right time to surface so that they could ambush enemy transport, dislocate communications and report troop movements. They were to cause as much mayhem to the infrastructure such as the main roads, bridges over the River Otter and railwaylines to restrict the Germans movement and to give our troops a chance to counter attack. They were prepared to assassinate germans and even local collaborators. They only had enough supplies for 2 weeks and then if they survived it was down to each man to survive off the land.
These men could never speak of their involvement with this brave patrol, it wasn't until more recently that the secrets could be told and the men named. Unfortunately many of these men had died and their families still were unaware of the commitment that these men had made for their country. One of the men, Dan Pring died from a shooting accident in 1952 and his family never knew about his involvement with the patrol unit until they inherited a pin badge passed down from him and recognised it after seeing a similar pin in a newspaper report about the secret army.
After the War the locals celebrated VE day at Harpford, entertaining some 50 children to tea and games on a field lent by no less than Mr Dan Pring and in a newspaper report that I found, there were all the names of the children from the families of the other men. They were all involved in the celebrations showing just how close they all must have been.
It could all have been very different for these families, thankfully though the invasion never came, but if the German Army had, the local men were ready for them. The Observational base is still there, hidden in a small copse at the back of Venn Ottery and Southerton, just a concrete shell from a past life.
I have heard a few rumours of some of the ex explosives being used to blow up a tree in the middle of a crop field nearby, with the hope of using the tree for firewood. With the tree being 'well stuffed' with explosives,  the tree was blown to smithereens and not much firewood was left!
Due to the secrecy of these patrols the men could never support their patrols on marches during the War or since at Armastice Day parades, but thankfully this has recently been allowed, with supporters marching this year at the Cenotaph.
Thank you to Newton Poppleford Local History group for bringing in Andrew Chatterton from CART to give a very informative talk and thanks to the families for their feed back.
If you knew any of these families or have anything that you may like to add to this story then please let me know.
vennottery@hotmail.co.uk

The photograph

THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPH
When researching I come across some lovely old photographs and sometimes those pictures have a story behind them.
 These photographs were taken by a local photographer called Albert Azulay Wallace, who lived in Sidmouth and documented the people around him. I have accumulated quite a few of his local scenes and characters taken in the early 1900s. Ann Knight shared these with me a few years ago. They show wonderful scenes of the Signalman and his family at Tipton St John station .
They are the Richards family who lived at Stanley Cottages. John was the railway signal man for the London and South Western Railway and he and his wife Ellen had 3 girls Joan, Phyllis and Marjorie. The charming photographs show a proud father with daughters dressed in white pinafores, wearing laced up leathers boots and carrying wicker baskets. It appears such a happy scene yet shortly before it was taken the family were devestated by the death of their middle daughter Phyllis, when she was just 3 years old. She died from diptheria contraccted from her older sister Joan. She is buried in Tipton churchyard halfway up the hill beside the path. There were many cases of Diptheria in Tipton and Metcombe reported in 1910 with the Medical Officer closing the school so that all the classrooms could be disinfected .
       "All possible precautions were taken to prevent the spread of the disease, but the conditions of home life had rendered isolation impossible....The Tipton district generally  was inspected and attention paid to the removal of manure and refuse heaps, and sanitary improvements and better drainage had been suggested"
A report from Ottery Council Meeting, Western Times newspaper  1910
But these measures came to late for Phyllis, she had died just days before the council meeting.
Thank goodness today we have vaccines and better sanitation
Next time you walk up the churchyard path pay your respects to little Phyllis, who never got to attend the school like her sisters or grow up in our lovely village.

Green lanes

Green Lanes
If you are out for a walk around Tipton and the surrounding area, the chances are that you will take the path of a lane that has been well trodden over hundreds if not thousands of years. The ancient tracks that intertwine across our countryside are the highways of the past, the routes from one village to the next, or even further on to the next local town, city or port . Goods would have been moved through these lanes on foot with the help of a pony or donkey. They would carry packs on with loads such as wool, lace, potatoes, fuel, flowers and fresh foods.  The paths favoured were the ridge tops with good views of the surrounding valleys so that one could see any thieves that may try to hold you up and take your goods. East Hill has numerous paths, being an area that brought people together from the Sid and Otter valleys  heading to Honiton. The higher roads were dry and better drained making them easier to traverse than routes down in the valleys which were often boggy and would easily churn up with mud. The paths up the hillsides were usually naturally carved gulleys made by the rain water running down the valley sides, wearing down the tracks as it flowed. Lanes would be as direct as possible but valley bottom routes would be determined by where the river was either shallow enough to cross or had a bridge. Occasionally cottages stood at the wayside, many folk living in them would be making lace or other produce. At one time cottages stood at Coombe, beside the lane following the goyle, with the stream running through, but they were demolished around 1910.
Sundays would have been a busy day with people travelling to their local church, which would have been either Venn Ottery or Harpford.  Many small tracks lead into Venn Ottery from West Hill, Metcombe, Fluxton, Coombe and Tipton which I am convinced were used by all the people walking to Communion in their Sunday best.
 Trees line the boundaries of  the tracks and fields, great Oak trees tower above the  banks of catkin, blackthorn, may-blossom, dogrose and honeysuckle that add to the colour and scent through the seasons.  Seaway Lane , named as it was the main route to Sidmouth, was once lined with Elm trees before Dutch Elm disease took effect and Green lane was well known for the huge Beech tree on the staggered crossroad that was struck by lightening..The lanes at Venn Ottery have archways of hazel and holly that shade us on sunny days and keep us dry on rainy days. The pathways also hold a variety of wildflowers such as celandines, primrose, bluebells, campions, ferns and foxgloves. Many animals use the tracks to move through the countryside, leaving occasionally through their own gaps in the hedges to find scented secret pathways.
We are so lucky to still have these lanes and walking them does make you wonder who once trudged the same route, through all weathers to get to their destination, maybe stopping to rest by the wayside, with their donkey. On a misty day you can almost imagine the horse and cart coming towards you  over the brow of the hill on Green Lane...but more likely a horserider or an offroad 4 wheel driver nowadays!

"If you have but a slight knowledge of the state of trade in early times, of the industries, customs and dress worn by the common folk you will be able to recreate the story of the past. A sunk lane, a ridge road, will be a page in the book of history, one that is well worth reading. If you see that which is old clearly you will have a greater awareness of the beauty and wonder  of your heritage."
William Rising Bray (Sidmouth 1935)

The photo album

The return of the photograph album.

A few months ago a friend of mine got in touch with me. He and his son had come across an old photograph album, at a car boot sale in Somerset, dated 1901 which had
           "Awarded to Eva Wheaton,  from Tipton St John School for punctual       attendance"
written in the front cover. He knew of my interest in history and knew that I lived in Tipton so he thought that I may be interested to see the book. He sent me some photos of it and I quickly messaged back asking him to please buy it for me. I was so excited when it arrived; the leather fronted album was very damaged (which I already knew) but it had the inscription in the front, some beautiful printed frames and many old phototgraphs.
So....I set about finding out who Eva was by researching her family tree and blow me if she hadn't grown up just down the road from me! Eva was born into the Wheaton family in 1892 one of nine children, her father Charles was a shepherd  in Venn Ottery and Eva went to school at Tipton St John. When I was at school we would  be given books at the end of term for kindness and good work, and it seems Eva was given the album by her headmistress, E Symes,  for her good attendance. It is even mentioned in the school log books  (which Ann Knight and I read a few years ago) that she was given the prize.  Ironically her father was fined for not sending his son, Evas brother to school a few years  earlier but maybe the boys were made use of at home on the farm or maybe he had learnt his lesson and Eva had been made to go to school!  I also discovered that Eva was the cousin of Harry Channon Wheaton, our brave WW1 soldier from Venn Ottery who died in 1917. Harry and Eva would have grown up together and gone to school together.
Eva went onto take servants chores in local houses after leaving school and then she went to work  at the Golden Lion with her younger sister Lucy working for the Innkeeper, Mr Fry. In 1925 Eva marries John Drew (who was a footman to Lady Ilchester before joining up to fight in WW1) and in 1939 they are running a pub together in Ottery St Mary, The Five Bells Inn, with their son Norman. She died in 1980
Sometimes it's strange how things come to you...a book from so far away found by an old school friend who I only see every now and then, and it turns out that the book would have been in a house just down the road from me over 100 years ago!
Well I think it's amazing!! Some might say fate, anyway Eva your book is safely back in Venn Ottery and Tipton.
Many thanks to Nick Carter and his son, for discovering this little gem and The Golden Lion for taking delivery of the album.
The photographs are of Eva, before she was married and her baby son Norman.