The Nuneaton Blitz Seventieth Anniversary
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NNWFHS JOURNAL July 2011 The Nuneaton Blitz Seventieth Anniversary SomeOld grave North stones Warwickshire in Atherstone villages were hit too - see the North Warwickshire pages. cemetery NUNEATON AND NORTH WARWICKSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY JOURNAL www.nnwfhs.org.uk July 2011 Price £2 (first copy free to members) i NNWFHS JOURNAL July 2011 The opinions expressed in articles in the Journal are Contents those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or of NNWFHS. Editorial Page 2 Copyright notice. Read all about it! Newspapers as a resource Page 2 Chairman‘s report Page 3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be Nuneaton Barrs family history Page 4 reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Books for family history Page 6 recorded or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Networking Page 7 Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society. Attleborough gardener dug up in New Zealand Page 8 Personal data. The Nuneaton Blitz Page 9 Chilvers Coton bombings, I remember them only too well! The Society holds personal data on our members – identity and contact details provided on application and renewal forms. Page 10 Under the Data Protection Act 1998 we can hold sufficient data to Bomber crash in Nuneaton and its connection with Fred Fowler run the Society, but no more. The data must also be accurate, from Chilvers Coton Page 12 kept up to date and not held for longer than necessary. To comply with the Act we will hold documents supporting current Blitz recollections from Jim Stevenson Page 13 membership. This will usually be the last completed application Mike Sharrod‘s wartime memories Page 14 or renewal form. Earlier documentation will be destroyed. In the Where the bombs fell (comprehensive list) Page 14 event of a member not renewing by the due date, previous documents will be held for a further four months in case of late The Close Page 16 renewal. Information about local archives Page 17 For ease of administration, an up to date copy of your personal data will be held on an electronic database with your consent. It The North Warwickshire Pages Page 18 will be assumed that you agree to this unless you tell us Bombing of North Warwickshire Villages Page 18 otherwise. If you do not agree to us holding such data Help wanted and a thank-you note Page 20 electronically please contact the Membership Secretary. Data held electronically will be subject to the same retention policy as Seeing your family in its community Page 20 clerical data. New members and their interests, and changes to members‘ contact details Page 21 ii NNWFHS JOURNAL July 2011 Editorial scary red entries alleged to be viruses. In the Chairman‘s report Peter refers They aren’t. Alternatively they may to the book about to be published by direct you to a website which Much of this edition covers the David Sidwell, one of our members. downloads a bogus ‗virus checker‘ Nuneaton blitz, but other parts of The launch date will be later this year which promptly shows up dozens of North Warwickshire were also and further details will be included in viruses. They will then persuade you bombed, albeit by accident. In the October Journal including an to download software that will get rid modern parlance I suppose this would article by David on the lengthy (but of the virus infection. At a price be ―collateral damage‖. The position rewarding) journey to publication. I naturally! At best you will have paid a of the impacts indicates the bombers hope his experiences will encourage lot of money for a useless piece of were returning from a raid on others with a story to tell to take the software, at worst you will have Birmingham, possibly aiming for the plunge and go into print. downloaded a malicious programme spitfire factory at Castle Bromwich. that will steal your data and possibly Either unused bombs were jettisoned take control of your computer. And on the way home or the bomb aimer you will have given your credit card was wide of his mark. Ironically an A warning for computer users. details to a bunch of criminals. evacuee from Birmingham was killed by one of the bombs. A new scam is going the rounds. Out If you get a call like this it is not of the blue you receive a telephone genuine. But the people behind it can Elsewhere we have the story of a call from Microsoft or an Internet be very persuasive and very painting of an Attleborough gardener Security Company. They have convincing. Do not be suckered in. that ended up in New Zealand. I received information that your Put the ‗phone down immediately remember it being shown on Antiques computer is infected by a virus. They before they have chance to get at you! Roadshow years ago and was will ask you to switch on your pleasantly surprised to find that Peter computer and go on to ‗prove‘ you John Parton Lee had tracked it down in New have a virus by either getting you to Zealand. navigate to a dialogue showing lots of Read All About It! Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society‘s recent meeting held at the Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre, was addressed by Richard Ratcliff, well-known speaker and author of family history guides. He discussed old newspapers and their usefulness. The beginning of newspapers and the taxes levied on them by government was explained along with some of the ruses of editors and publishers to avoid payment of the tax! He described the development of transport - the arrival of turnpike roads and the first mail coaches enabling papers to be dispersed to further flung parts. At a time when many could not read, local coffee houses would have the papers read aloud, and no doubt gained more trade in the process. Newspapers of the past reported national and international news – local papers often copying articles from national ones. However, papers were full of local advertisements for anything from cure-all pills to announcements of the arrival of the latest fabrics from Paris. Sales of property, and auctions were detailed, often with addresses and occupiers names. They also reported in great detail many local goings-on. One wedding announcement delighted in advising that the newly-weds were delivered of a son on the night of the marriage! Funeral reports frequently listed all the mourners and some included their relationship to the deceased – absolute ―gold‖ for any family history sleuth. Local papers are often now the only means of discovering coroner‘s inquests with reports being more detailed than any remaining official records. These will often detail names of those giving evidence, which can include neighbours. And should your forebears have got on the wrong side of the law, there will be much heralded in the press. Accidents were also reported – there were plenty prior to the arrival of motor vehicles - so you may be surprised at what you read in the local papers of the past. All this was in days when local happenings made the news, not the newspapers trying to make the news themselves!! It was a delight to attend Richard Ratcliff‘s presentation: it is a long time since a meeting was addressed without electronic gadgetry. Richard spoke, with notes for his quotes from newspapers around the country, and set out a collection of original and facsimile papers, along with some associated family history items much enhanced by research in the ―local rag‖. Many libraries hold copies of their local newspapers on microfilm. Be warned: reading them takes time as you are sidetracked by the fascinating detail of local life along with a range of advertisements that, today, would not be allowed to make such extensive claims! Jacqui Simkins 2 NNWFHS JOURNAL July 2011 Chairman’s Report guessed that in this migration members David Sidwell wrote some of the miners were to me about a set of note books chosen so their boss could field in which his grandfather wrote Two big C‘s occupy much of a good cricket team! But then his life‘s history. David had my work on your behalf and my the Coincidence continued. A copied them through the research at the moment. few weeks later a fellow in wonders of modern technology Context and Co-incidence. Let Manchester emailed me out of into written form and sent me a me give you an example. I the blue to enquire about a word document of his gave a talk to the Friends of house which once stood in grandfather‘s memoir. It was Whittleford Country Park last Hinckley Road, Nuneaton – terrific. Well written, eloquent, year. A lovely group of people The Briars. Enquiring about a peopled with great characters. who conserve a wildlife haven relative living there. I knew of David‘s grandfather was not a which has spread across the the large house, but it had wealthy man. He was a miner, footprint of the old gone way before my time. It and very often we think of Haunchwood Brick & Tile‘s Nr. stood where Briars Close now ourselves as not having 1 yard at Stockingford. The old is. Prompted by this enquiry a interesting lives. This book clay hole is a cool pool, the quick phone call to one of my turns that on its head. His life clay banks moulded into most trusted elderly residents was, as everybody‘s often is wooded glades. The locally established that it had very ordinary, but through his foundations of the old brickyard been used for some time prior impressive observation of still litter the site supporting a to WW2 as a residence for character and circumstance he rich assortment of wild flora single lady teachers at draws you back to an earlier and fauna.