2020
We Need Your Support
Once again we find ourselves in the closed period but are looking forward to the exhibition opening on the first Saturday in May which this year coincides with the 75th Anniversary commemorations of Peace in Europe at the end of the Second World War. The LMHA will be involved in a number of ways in Cirencester’s commemorations.
During the closed season there is little or no funding coming in other than from fees for talks given by members. Applications have been made to grant making organisations, but in these difficult times grants are very hard to come by purely for voluntary organisation’s running costs.
The CDC does give community grants, however we have been told that we do not meet their criteria. However, thanks to the good offices of the present CDC the proposed increase in the rent by the outgoing authority of a 105% , was not implemented, but we still have to find £3,600 for the rent alone. The Cirencester Town Council recently gave a grant of £500 which will go part way to meet our next lease payment of £915 to the CDC due at the end of this month.
If there is anyone out there who would like to help us financially, donations made out to the LMHA can be sent to :
The Living Memory Historical Association 44 Links View, Cirencester, GL7 2NF.
Better News for 2019
2018 ended on a low note for us, but 2019 has started on a positive one. We would like to thank everyone who supported us in the “Tesco Bags of Help scheme”. We received the second prize of £2,000 which will be very helpful. The rules of the scheme mean that we cannot use it for running costs such as the rent, but it will help in many other ways. The lease with the CDC is still under negotiation, but at the moment it has not increased since last year. There has been some electrical work carried out in the cottages to transfer the electricity supply from the main hospital building. No date has been given for the demolition of the latter but it is hoped that it will not interfere with access to the shelter section of the Annual Exhibition which is now open.
During the closed season apart from cleaning, tidying and the application of woodworm killer to a number of exhibits, two in particular underwent major renovation. Last year in the act of moving exhibits to loan some to the British Legion for an event in the Parish Church, our Avro Lincoln bomber model crash landed on the concrete floor of the air raid shelter. This caused major damage to the nose area, rear gun turret, under carriage and removed one propeller assembly. Thankfully restoration was possible and after a couple of months work it has now returned to its place in the display. The restoration gave opportunity to examine the possibility of getting the four engines working which has not been possible since we inherited the model. Unfortunately one of the electric motors was beyond repair, but a replacement was imported from the far-east and now the engines will operate with the aid of a battery pack. Below are a couple of before and after images. Others can be found in the Gallery.
For the new season the toy display in the cottages was reorganised and the model aerodrome moved to make it more visible. At the end of last season the original motor driving the four defiant models on their tower became unreliable. The motor came from a control system on a Blenheim bomber, so after over 70 years of loyal service it has been retired. A new geared motor has been fitted which we hope will last for another 70 years.
Last season our bride, in her magnificent wedding dress made from parachute silk, was rather lonely. She is now accompanied by her husband who must have been away winning his impressive row of medals. The children in the photograph are from another branch of the family!
By way of a distraction, Scrappy Grace impersonating Sir Winston Churchill.
2018 Season
The annual exhibition in the Memorial Hospital air raid shelter and the Hospital cottages has finished for this season , barring further school visits. Once again over 2,000 visitors came on the Saturdays between May and October including a number of schools and other groups and we are very grateful for the support of the public. However the season has ended with a shock. We have to renew our lease with the CDC on January 1st 2019 and have been presented with a draft copy which is open to negotiation, but as it was originally drawn up in August and we received it on 29th October time is of the essence.The over- riding problem is that they propose increasing our rent from £3,660 to £7,500 It has been difficult enough for us to raise the first figure as that is combined with rates, insurance and service charges. As things stand there is no way that the new figure can be achieved and the likely outcome will be the end of this popular Cirencester tourist venue of 30 years standing, unless a solution can be found. If there is anyone out there with influence please help us to save the situation before it is too late. We will be contacting the CDC with an appeal but time is critical.
The 2017 Season
“Winston Churchill” visits the Summer Exhibition
A number of guests including history reenactors attending a local function took the opportunity to pay a visit to our exhibition. Among them was a well known “Winston Churchill” impersonator Stan Streather, who by a quirk of fate encountered “Queen Victoria” in the air raid shelter!
Can you help us to raise vital funding?
If you have a printer that uses inkjet cartridges we can recycle them and gain £1 for each cartridge. If you would like to help we can supply prepaid envelopes to take 2 cartidges (see contacts page) or you can pop them through the letterbox of our office at 23 Sheep Street for us to arrange transport. The recycling company are unable to accept inktanks such as Brother, Epson and Kodak in these envelopes. However we can send them in a bulk box from our address in Sheep Street. The recycling company will also accept old mobile phones (minus the SIM card) by the same method .
Your help would really be appreciated.
Any other ideas could help us to continue
As the Spring approaches there are murmurings under the earth. In fact there has already been one visit to the Shelter Exhibition this montheven before we have been able to do the annual preperations for the new season which opens officially to the public on Saturday 6th of May.
One of our preperations will be finding space for yet more exhibits, a large number of which have been generously donated by members of the public since the exhibition closed last October.
Cirencester at War
On February 17th Amberley Publishers republished Peter Grace’s book “Cirencester at War” as an updated version of the original first published by Tempus in 2005. It is available on Amazon and book shops. For further details follow the link to Amberley Publishers.
The 2016 Season
As we come close to the end of this season for the Annual Exhibition there are rumours rife concerning the future of the Air Raid Shelter. Although the demise of the Hospital Building seems more than likely, as yet we have had no hint or official information relating to a similar fate for the shelter or the Old Hospital Cottages.
Heritage Open Days
We took part once again in English Heritage’s “Heritage Open Days” on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th of September.
The Exhibition opened on Saturday from 10.00am until 4.30 pm and Sunday from 2.00pm until 5.00pm. During these hours we had at least 300 visitors a figure we have maintained over the many years we have taken part in this event. They came from all over Britain and abroad as well as the local community. It is to hoped that the relevant authorities will note this when considering the future of this part of Cirencester which is under threat of redevelopment.
Tuesday 31st May 175th Anniversary of the opening of the Cirencester Town Station
The exhibitions in the Town Station by the local Railway Societies, Cirencester Camera Club and ourselves created a great deal of interest with an estimated 700+ visitors during the day. Many expressed their appreciation of the chance to visit this long neglected Grade 2 listed building which was designed originally by Isambard Kingdom Brudel the world famous engineer and railway pioneer. During the day a new plaque was unveiled on the outside of the building. This was provided by Cirencester Civic Society one of the groups responsible for the organisation of the day.
The plaque replaced an earlier one which suggested that Brunel probably designed the station, the new one confirming that this was the case.
The LMHA’s contribution was an exhibition, in the former Board Room of the Station on the first floor, visited no doubt by Brunel himself during the early days of the GWR. The exhibition consisted of information, photographs and artefacts relating to the Town Station and its influence during the Second World War. The subjects covered included the part played in the Evacuation, the Home Guard defence of the station and the town and the air raid precautions [ARP] relating to the station. There was also a board setting down a possible future use of the building as a Community facility including a new expanded home for our Exhibition at present housed in the Old Memorial Hospital cottages.
Part of the Evacuation display
The Home Guard display
The ARP display
Future Proposals for the Station Building
A great deal of support was offered for this proposal some taking the trouble to record their support on a survey in the railways exhibition on the ground floor. There was a constant flow of visitors of all ages and from far afield. The stairs proved not to be a barrier to many elderly visitors, including former staff of the station. Moves are being made to enable the opening of the building again during the Heritage Opening days in September.
This year’s exhibition has started very successfully with over 300 visitors on the first four Saturdays. We have also had a group visit on Sunday 21st May and during the special open day of the 175th Anniversary of the Town Station.
The 2015 Season
The Annual Exhibition has now closed for the Winter after another very successful season. We had over 2,000 visitors of all ages and from many parts of the Country and abroad. In addition to those who came on the Saturdays we also had group visits from history societies, schools, brownies etc. A number of schools also came in the period just after the exhibition closed to the public.
Rendcomb College Juniors are regular visitors
As in previous years our archives were swelled considerably over the period with generous donations of artefacts by the visiting public.
During the season we continued to give talks to societies in Cirencester and the surrounding area. Of particular satisfaction were those visits to homes for the elderly when we reminisced with the aid of period artefacts.
Saturday and Sunday 12th and 13th September were particularly busy it being the weekend of English Heritage’s “Heritage Open Days”. We were able to take a prominent part in Cirencester’s effort and had over 275 visitors. The two “War Walks” around the town were very successful and included a wide age range.
Once again on April 25th-26th members attended the WWII weekend on the Gloucestershire Worcestershire Railway. A large number of people came to see the LMHA’s display in the “Santa Shed” on Winchcombe station.
The new season started on Saturday 2nd of May with the opening of the exhibition in the Air raid Shelter and the Cottages There have been some changes to the display in the air raid shelter and major alterations to the layout of the displays in the Old Hospital Cottages. A new sales stand was generously donated by Lizzie, the proprietor of the “Willow” shop when the latter closed. We are looking to put this to good use. The first day saw a very encouraging number attending. 106 people visited the shelter alone.
The 2014 Season
English Heritage “Heritage Open Days”
Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th of September
“Wartime life in the Cotswolds”
Once again the Air Raid Shelter and the Old Hospital Cottages provided the setting for the LMHA’s contribution to Heritage Open Day’s. We had a good number of visitors over the two days. Many were from the local area but also others from further afield. Both “War Walks” on the Saturday and Sunday were well supported when visitors took the opportunity to see some of the wartime relics and places still visible around the centre of the town. It was good to see a number of families joining us on the walks.
This year’s exhibition was very successful with the number of visitors once again well over 2,000 during the five months. They were of all ages and came from all over Britain and from overseas. As well as passing on our information we received a great deal from our visitors along with as usual a number of donations of artefacts.
On 12th of September the week before the “Heritage Open Days”, Bill and Jane Irving took a selection of our World War 1 exhibits to support the BBC WW1 at Home event organise by BBC Radio Gloucestershire. This was held in Gloucester as part of the Gloucester History Festival. This large- scale event included the BBC‘s National touring exhibition. It was a great success and provided us also with useful publicity.
Jane waiting for the first visitors at Gloucester
The 2014 “Closed” Season
With the exhibitions in the Air Raid Shelter and Cottages well established last year there was little to do in the closed season other than cleaning and minor alterations. There were out of season visits from a number of schools and groups and also talks given at various venues in and around Cirencester on a variety of Historical subjects. On the 26th and 27th of April, a week before the opening of this year’s Exhibition, members and supporters of the LMHA took part in the GWR 1940’s Steam Weekend on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. We provided an exhibition of some of our WW2 artefacts on Winchcombe station. It was a very well attended event with over 500 visitors to our small exhibition alone. It was also an excellent way of getting publicity out for our own exhibition this year.
Waiting for the visitors to arrive at Winchcombe Station
2013 A Busy “Summer”
The new season’s exhibition opened on Saturday May 4th. The closed season was hardly a closed season at all with a number of school groups visiting the exhibition and members of the association going out to give talks in the town and further afield. The subject of the talks has widened from Cirencester in wartime. The one on the “Lost places of Cirencester” has proved popular not only in the town but even in Swindon.
Friday 3rd May
The Opening day of the revamped Exhibition was a great success repaying all the hard work from 4th January Our new sign went up on the cottages and the last minute alterations and panics were worth it. We are pleased to say thatwe had generous donations from the Winstone Charitable Trust, the Cirencester Town Council, the Bingham Library Trustees, the Lord Faringdon Trust and the Langtree Trust to help set up the new project. As well as working in the new cottage premises, the elictrical system and lighting has been replaced in the shelter and the shelter exhibition revamped.
As the exhibition continued through the season we were able to see where there is still room for improvement and development. The new purpose made street signs proved very successful in directing visitors from the Town Centre.
Below are a few photographs of the preliminary work on the Home Front Exhibition. There were a few changes in the layout before the opening of the exhibition as we reinterpreted the displays.
A New Look for 2013
With the New Year came the news that we had managed to secure a new lease for space within the Old Hospital Cottages in Sheep Street, which once housed the Memorial Hospital administration offices.
Until recently it was the home of Cirencester Volunteer Bureau. It is still within very easy reach of the Air Raid Shelter and will give us a chance to revamp the Home Front Exhibition. It is envisaged that the format will be much as before with a Kitchen Front display together with another display of daily life in two separately housed sections. The latter will include more space for childhood themes. The Civilian Services display will be housed in a separate room off which will be our office and store space.
The move and new start has had financial implications but we are in negotiations for funding to help with the move and revamp. As part of the revamp there will also be work carried out in the shelter, particularly to bring the lighting and electrical system up to modern standards. As always of course the lease is our most demanding outlay and we continue to have to find over £3000 pounds each year for this alone in order to continue. As many grant giving bodies will not provide grants for on going costs such as rent, rates and electricity charges we would be glad of any information regarding sources of funding (legal of course!)
Whilst we were disappointed in not securing space in the Old Town Railway Station we are glad of this new opportunity and who knows the station could be a possibility in the future.
18th November 2012:
Following on our proposal to use the Town Railway Station as the alternative venue to the Hospital Annexe we regret that the CDC was unable to grant permission on the grounds of “Health and Safety”! This was not a surprise as the interior of the building has been neglected for years. Our Trustees however are grateful for the support given and efforts made by the Cirencester Town Council, including a number of Councillors who also serve on the CDC, officers of the CDC, and other organisation and individuals in the town.
Happily thanks to these efforts we are on the point of signing a lease on space within the Cottages, known as No 23 Sheep Street, until recently occupied by Cirencester Volunteer Bureau. Before this they housed the administration department of the Memorial Hospital. This means that the two sections of the exhibition and other facilities remain within the site of the Hospital making it relatively easy to move between the air raid shelter and the Home Front exhibition in the cottages . Also it means that all being well we will not have to transport the contents of the annexe very far. It will also give us opportunity to take stock of all the artefacts within the collection and to reorganise both sections of the exhibition.
As an added boost, although financing our activities is a constant problem, we recently received a very generous grant from The Bingham Library Trustees which will do much to help with setting up the new premises.
AGM report and response to “An Unwelcome Early Christmas Present” as previously reported :
The LMHA Trustees held the AGM on Monday 8th October and a copy the Annual Report for 2011-2012 is attached.
AGM Report 2012.pdf
Following the AGM an emergency meeting took place to discuss the approach to the Cotswold District Council [CDC] over the notice to quit the Hospital Annexe.
The following attached document which outlines a request for us to use space within the Old Cirencester Town Station was drawn up as a result of the meeting and sent to the CDC.
Proposal to CDC.pdf
Copies have also been sent to the Town Council and other interested bodies and individuals. As yet we know only that the CDC Chief Executive has passed it down the line to the CDC Legal Department, but there has been no reply yet from the Council as a body. All others contacted so far, have given a very positive response to our proposal including Earl Bathurst and a number of Town Councillors who also serve on the CDC.
“An Unwelcome Early Christmas Present”
On 25th September we received a telephone call from a representative of the Cotswold District Council to inform us that a decision has been made by the Council that means that soon we will be given three months to vacate our exhibition and storage facilities in the Memorial Hospital Annexe, which we have occupied for the past 5 years. All the other tenants of the hospital building are also to be given notice. As yet we are not aware of the proposed fate of the building but we were told that the Air Raid Shelter and its exhibition are not at risk.
Obviously this is the worst Christmas present we have to look forward to and the task of finding alternative premises is an urgent priority. In our collection we have well over 1000 items from 23 Kilner jars of wartime bottled fruit, to a large pre-war mangle, to say nothing of various desks, storage cabinets and the loan boxes we send out to schools. If there is anyone out there who can help please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
A generous gift and poignant reminder
Recently we received a very interesting addition to the Association’s collection from Glen Moreman, Operations manager of the Cotswold Airport the former RAF Kemble. The donation consist of an hydraulic pump from a German JU 88 Bomber. Although he informed us that he is unable to prove it, he has it that the pump came from a bomber which had a place in one of Kemble’s notable wartime incident.
Pilot Officer Charles Alec Bird
At 14.25 (2.25pm) on Thursday July 25th 1940 employees at RAF Kemble watched as RAF Pilot Officer Charles Alec Bird, known as Alec, attached to No. 4 Ferry Pool and member of the Station’s Defence Flight climbed into Hurricane P3271 an early version of this fighter aircraft. This was to engage enemy aircraft which had been located in the vicinity. Evidently the Hurricane took some time to start from cold before it took off. From a vantage point on the roof of one of the grass covered blister hangars on the main ‘A’ Site one witness watched as a German Junkers Ju88 bomber came into view. He then watched as the Hurricane which had gainep qMl ����Lw}ynOTw�attack from the stern. Above the drone of the enemies engines came the sound of cannon fire then the Hurricane appeared to make contact with the rear of its prey. There have been other accounts of this incident recorded which vary in detail and include the intervention of a second British fighter, a Spitfire based at nearby RAF Aston Down. However this witness recalled that from his angle of observation the Hurricane never passed the rear of the Ju88, instead moments later the German was heading in a steep spiralling dive, parachutes coming away from it along with pieces of wreckage. The German pilot recalled that one of the gunners, Uffz. Theiner, shouted out a warning of fighter attack and seconds later the aircraft staggered, as if struck by a giant hand As for the Hurricane, it too came down in an uncontrolled spin to be destroyed as it hit the ground with the pilot still on board. All but one of the German crew, Uffz. Theiner, survived. Their aircraft crashed in fields near Oakridge Lynch.
Researches show that Pilot Officer Bird may have had a premonition of his death. Only the day before he had been shopping in Cheltenham with his wife, whom he had married on the day war broke out. In the town he bought a book containing a poem entitled “Wings”. The last verse of the poem read:
“ My son has wings, for as the plane dived deep,
His spirit, free within the realms of space,
On new-found wings flew with a swifter sweep,
Fearless and laughing, to the throne of Grace.”
Alec crossed out “My son” and substituted “He” asking his wife to have this carved on his grave-stone. She honoured this sad request and the verse is on his gravestone in the churchyard of St John the Baptist’s Church, Adel in Yorkshire, where he was laid to rest. Uffz. Theiner who was also killed when his parachute failed to open, was the one who could have confirmed the manner of Alec Bird’s attack. The other three survivors Uffz. Dorner, Uffz. Hugelschafer and Gefr. Treue were all captured in the Oakridge area. Had Theiner survived Alec Bird might well have received the recognition he deserved for what appeared to many to be an act of self sacrifice in ramming the enemy aircraft. Details of the capture of the German crew can be found in “Wings Over Gloucestershire” by John Rennison (ISBN 0951404709)
Identification plates on the pump
The wreckage of the Ju88 at Oakridge Lynch
