News

Summer 2011

2011 has all been about the production of a new DVD on Somerset at War, my home county. Growing up in Somerset I was fascinated by the varied structures dotted around the landscape that my parents told me were erected during the Second World War, when the country was about to be invaded by the Nazis. In fact, wherever you go in the county you are never far away from a reminder of those wartime years. There are pillboxes, coastal defences, army camps, airfields, and many other relics of those dark days. In the film we take a geographical tour around the county, to find out exactly what was going on at the time to warrant the building of all this wartime infrastructure.

In the film we see coastal defences at places like Brean Down, Steepholm and Battery Point Portishead, where huge guns protected the seaward approaches to Bristol. We visit the stop lines throughout the county which were built to hold the Germans back if they had invaded. In Glastonbury we meet Jan Morland and Richard Squire who tell us about the contingency plans the town had in place, if the Germans had arrived. These included things from the supply of food and water, to burial of the dead. We visit Burnham-on-Sea to uncover some of the remains of the huge Mulberry Harbours that were established off the Normandy coast in 1944 to help the allies land men and supplies during the invasion. On the Pawlett Hams we see how this remote area was used as a bombing range and for tests to cut the cables of German barrage balloons. We see how the Royal Ordnance Factory at Bridgwater was responsible for the digging out of the Huntspill River, one of the county's largest waterways. In Bridgwater itself we learn about Vernon Bartlett a media personality who stood at a by election and won the seat as an independent opposed to Chamberlain's appeasement with Hitler. We also visit RAF Culmhead from where the first fighter sweeps were flown over Normandy on D -Day and where the first jet aircraft, the Gloster Meteor, entered service with the RAF. We also visit the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton, where naval fighter pilots were trained, and learn about the tragic accident at Downside School when a trainee pilot from the base lost control of his aircraft and ploughed into a field while a cricket match was taking place, killing nine boys.

Other interviews include one with Francis Disney, who was a library officer at Shepton Mallet prison, who tells us all about the American regime there during the war, and how prisoners were executed. We talk to Eileen Waterer who was a Land Girl and visit the memorial of the Women's Land Army at Worthy Farm in Pilton. We also talk to Charles Wilkins who had the dangerous job of working in a Royal Engineers bomb disposal unit, and recalls one particular bomb they dealt with near Bridgwater. And we talk to Tony Brown who was evacuated to Somerset from Essex.

Other places visited include Taunton, Yeovil, and Bath. So hopefully the viewer will get quite a comprehensive idea of what was going on in the county at the time. Many newspapers, magazines, and local radio stations have all given the film a good plug so far.

Here are a few of the locations visited, Brean Down, Pilton and Donyatt Halt.