WW1 Aircraft Associated with Biggin Hill I live in Bromley and as a boy had an interest in planes, and often cycled to the Biggin Hill aerodrome to watch the RAF jets in action, and to attend Battle of Britain and other flying display days. At the aerodrome there is a Memorial Chapel which commutates all the 454 pilots and air crews who were killed in WW2 flying from the Biggin Hill sector. In 2016 this lost its funding support from the RAF/MOD and was taken over by Bromley Council.…
Category: News
Plane Models from Junk
Modelling is not just for boys, my husband has given himself the task of making a model of every plane that flew during World War 1. Not a huge task you might say. You would be wrong. Internationally he has found about 500 different planes and has made about 350. The trouble is when he hunts for the plans he finds more planes! You can view his model aircraft project here > Bromley School Boys’ Clever Work Two boys of the Bromley County School, in their spare time, have made…
Windmills
Windmills The repercussions of war are as unexpected as they are inexorable and endless. The latest of victims are our few ancient windmills. Of recent years about half-dozen of these time-honoured memorials of agricultural England were put back into working order again. One would have thought that such engines worked by wind alone and needing no fuel to drive them would have been of economical value to the war machine. Apparently, this is not so. The Ministry of Food say that owing to transport local milling is not practicable. Everything…
Sea Birds’ Peril
The many sinkings of tankers and oil-fuelled vessels has greatly increased the peril to guillemots, puffins, razorbills, comorants and gulls of all kinds, as well as many estuary ducks. They can do nothing but drift on tides, back and forth, until they die after weeks of slow starvation. Sometimes heavy weather casts these oil-smothered sufferers ashore. People living round our coats are constantly telling of hundreds of dead and dying birds washed ashore. The secretary of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says that, compared with the last…
Shavex: Advert from 1942
“Shavex” was the was first brush-less shaving cream, developed by Violet Van der Elst, a daughter of a coal prter and a washwoman, and herself a scullery maid. Violet became a successful businesswomen after developing a number of cosmetics, including “Shavex” and was also a campigner, best remembered for her activities against the death penalty. Shavex: No Soap – No Brush – No Lather Why do all the forces prefer Shavex? The Pefect Two Minute Shave. They’re united, these men of the Empire, united in their determination to fight for…
Guide to War Savings
Even after the war children were encouraged to save. I remember the 6d. And 2/6 stamps that we could collect. It was rare that I could afford 2s. 6d. So most of my stamps were 6d. When we had a full card, the money would be transferred into my post office savings account. Your Guide to War Savings Issued for your information by The National Savings Committee. National Savings Certificates Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks 3% Defence Bonds 3% Savings Bonds (1955-65) 2.5% National War Bonds (1949-51) Source:Bromley &…
Old Valley Boy Plays for Scottish Command
Mr Jack Lansbury The many friends of Mr Jack Lansbury, whose mother lives at 37 Recreation Road, Shortlands, will be please to hear of his success in the football field. An old Valley School boy, Jack played in peacetime for St John’s, Nunhead, and Shortlands Reserves. He is now in the R.A.S.C. and a member of the Scottish Command Team. A clever forward (inside-right), Mr Lansbury has played against Third Lanark and Queen’s Park, and also for Gateshead and Bradford City. He has several brothers in the Army fighting for…
Women’s Home Defence, 1942
Chance to Learn to Shoot “No Drills, No Red Tape, No Uniform” The announcement that a unit of the Women’s Home Defence is being formed in Bromley has aroused considerable interest among women over a wide area. The Women’s Home Defence is a voluntary movement started by women, and is sponsored by Dr. Edith Summerskill, M.P. The Bromley organiser is Miss R.G. Cottrell, 6 Orchard Road. Seen by a Kentish time reporter, Miss Cottrell said she had already received about a dozen letters and cards from women who wrote in…
Bromley Warship Week, March 1942
Inaugurated by Admiral Sir Edward Evans “Time for all Hands on Deck” Everyone must make greater sacrifices. Bromley had raised £320,492 (up to noon Wednesday) towards the objective of £400,000 to adopt HMS Broke, the famous ship with which the name distinguished sailor and Artic explorer, Admiral Sir Edward Evans, K.C.B., D.S.O, LL.D (Evans of the Broke), is and always will be associated. On the opening day (Saturday) the Mayor (Councillor H. Lynch-Watson, J.P.) was able to set the indicator at the six-figure sum of £209,516; the figures on Monday…
Lieutenant Richard Been Stannard
Lieutenant Richard Been Stannard was born at Blyth, Northumberland. His father, Captain George Stannard, was lost with the Mount Oswald, an Allen liner, which he commanded when he was making a trip from Baltimore to England in 1912. He had 2 brothers in the Merchant Service and his sister married Mr Douglas Jenkins. Stannard left school at 15 and joined the Port Line and was at sea in 1918. He transferred to the Orient Line after obtaining his master’s certificate and was 2nd officer of the liner Orford when the war…