Contact No.115 – March-April 2018

CONTACT ! The Newsletter of the former RAF Defford Reunion Association, now merged with the DEFFORD AIRFIELD HERITAGE GROUP in partnership with THE NATIONAL TRUST, CROOME http://deffordairfieldheritagegroup.wordpress.com Editor: Bob Shaw Number 115, March/April 2018 GREAT PROGRESS End of Phase One of Buildings Restoration in Sight The rebuilding and repair of the RAF Defford Sergeant’s & Orderlies’ Quarters buildings is on schedule. By the middle of April, the two remaining Sick Quarters buildings awaiting restoration, will be stable, secure and weathertight – and no longer in imminent danger of collapse! The contractors Croft Building & Conservation Ltd, under the direction of National Trust consultant Clive Haywood have done an excellent job despite the intervention of heavy snow and freezing temperatures. Phase One of the restoration scheme is funded by a generous grant of £80,000 from Severn Waste, secured by the Defford Airfield Heritage Group, who are working in partnership with the National Trust. By the end of March, the buildings were covered with scaffolding and looked more like a demolition than a restoration! But the new roof, and the return and installation of the repaired and refurbished Crittall windows is on plan for mid-April and with repair of the roof of the Latrines together with some remedial work on the brickwork, will transform the building, marking the completion of Phase One. Phase Two which intended to turn a secure but empty shell into a useable building as a Learning Centre, is hoped to start at the end of June for completion in September or October. But Phase Two is troubled by uncertainty over finance. £122,684 is needed, even though the estimated cost is being kept down by the intention to call on volunteers to undertake tasks such decoration, tiling, gardening and landscaping. The good news is that Malvern-based QinetiQ plc (the privatised linear successor to RSRE and DERA) has generously offered £25,000 in response to an approach by DAHG, while DAHG itself is contributing £2,000 from Group funds. The Friends of Croome group are offering to pay for furniture and equipment, valued at in excess of £17,000. The bad news is that the shortfall at the time of writing is £83,000. This still has to be secured. It is intended that the greater part of this will be met by an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (where we are ‘Great Progress’ (continued from p.1) advised not to ask for more than £60,000), together with a number of applications to various independent Trust Funds made very recently by National Trust at Regional level on behalf of Croome. The preparation of the application to HLF has taken an inordinate degree of time and effort, buffeted by conflicting advice received, some from within the joint NT/DAHG Project Team, some from various self- professed experts on the workings of the HLF. The draft application has been signed off by NT Croome and is now in the hands of NT Regional Office. It is important that the restored buildings are put to a good ongoing use, to ensure regular maintenance and justify long-term financial support. There is a clear need for indoor space to accommodate school parties and other community groups, who are keen to visit and use Croome. There is continuing and growing demand for the RAF Defford Museum to welcome groups of school class size, which at present the Museum has not the space to do (the small ‘Cinema’ area can only accommodate 12 people at most). This means that at present the Museum cannot deliver its full potential. Beyond that, the facility being created by Phase Two will result in a large meeting room and multi-purpose space which will be widely available for booking by the community, and by staff and volunteers at Croome. Pershore High School, the nearest and largest school to Croome, has shown how bringing class-sized groups to Croome can be used to support learning in a wide range of subjects in the curriculum. Consequently, Pershore High are enthusiastic supporters of the scheme, as are Worcestershire County Council Archive and Archaeology Service, who recognise and endorse the heritage value of the buildings as part of a rare surviving example of an intact WW2 RAF Station Sick Quarters complex. All the other buildings in the RAF Defford SSQ have been restored by the NT/DAHG partnership – after completion of the present project only the Air Raid Shelter awaits attention (watch this space!) Defford Airfield Heritage Group Annual General Meeting 2018 The AGM of the Group will be held on Friday 11th May at 10.00am in the Ambulance Garage at Croome. All members are welcome to attend. It would be helpful if you could give the Hon. Secretary, Ann Sterry, an indication if you are planning to attend so that we can provide enough seating, and also if you could give her prior notice of any points you wish to raise at the meeting. Contact Ann Sterry by e-mail at [email protected] DAHG Subscriptions Subscriptions for 2018 (£5.00) were due in January; many thanks to all those members who have paid already. If you think this may have slipped your mind, please send a cheque for £5 to John Sterry, Hornbeams, Lampitt Lane, Bredon’s Norton, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire GL20 7HB, (01684 772234) or pay by BACS (Account number 34335768, sort code 30-80-34). Alternatively, if you would like to set up at standing order, please get in touch and we can supply a form to do this, or online, using the account details and DAHG as a payee. Please add your name as a reference whichever way you pay. Thank you. 2 DEFFORD AIRFIELD HERITAGE GROUP AND THE RAF DEFFORD REUNION ASSOCIATION – A TRIBUTE FROM MICHAEL BARNARD Michael J Barnard, the prolific and celebrated local artist and historian, is a long standing member of DAHG and before that, of the RAF Defford Reunion Association. He has presented ‘Contact!’ with this splendidly characteristic drawing which captures the spirit of the two organisation, and their partnership with the National Trust at Croome. Michael’s vivid memories of RAF Defford go back to 1944, when he as an active ATC cadet he first visited the airfield. He is the author of ‘Secret of Skies’ (2002), recommended reading for anyone interested in the history of RAF Defford and some of the people involved. Members of DAHG will recall that one the highlights of the 2016 RAF Defford Heritage Day and annual Reunion of RAF Defford personnel, was the opening of an exhibition of the art of Michael Barnard, which subsequently transferred to The Court for an extended season. Left: Michael Barnard at the opening of the exhibition of his work, in July 2016, with his wife Pamela and exhibition organiser John Sterry. 3 The Winter of 1947 The heavy snow and cold weather in the winter now receding, has resulted in media claims that the winter of 2018 is the “Worst in Living Memory” – a claim met with derision by those of us over the age of 80 who can remember the winter of 1947. Some other winters since then have suffered extensive cold and snow. But none was worse than the weather of the winter of 1947 which was very extreme, prolonged and exceptional in its impact on a nation weakened by six years of war and rationing of food and heating fuel. In January, February and early March 1947, Britain suffered abnormally low temperatures and excessively heavy snowfall. The severe weather continued into March with even greater ferocity, as temperatures dropped to below minus 20 degrees centigrade in places. Across the country, the winter of 1947 caused severe hardship in economic terms and living conditions. There was massive disruption of food and energy supply for homes, offices and factories. Animal herds froze or starved to death. Civilians and military personnel alike suffered from the persistent cold. Many businesses were forced to shut down as large drifts of snow blocked roads and railways, which caused problems transporting coal to electricity generating stations, forcing severe restrictions and a cut to power consumption, including restricting domestic electricity to 19 hours per day and switching off some industrial supplies completely. At RAF Defford, and across the UK, there was exceptionally cold weather in December and early January. Snow started falling in earnest on 21st January, continuing through February. No flying was possible, and the great majority of personnel were sent home – mainly because of the acute shortage of heating and supplies. From 1st to 7th March 1947, Defford suffered the heaviest snowfall yet, with the camp almost cut off. A Sikorsky Hoverfly helicopter at Defford on loan from 529 Squadron (above) almost certainly YR-4A KK989, offered the only form of transport in and out of the Station, including delivering a token amount of fuel and food. On 5th March, a blizzard with easterly gales was described as ‘the worst storm in these parts ever recorded’, and on 15th March, an even worse gale hit the airfield, with wind speeds averaging 40mph and gusting up to 70mph, causing £700 of damage at Defford. The subsequent thaw was to create devastating problems of its own, with aircraft from Defford being pressed into service to drop supplies and inflatable dinghies to stranded farms in the flooded Severn valley. But an optimistic note to finish on – after the harsh winter, the summer of 1947 was one of the finest and warmest on record! Flooding around Upton, Spring 1947, seen from an RAF Defford relief aircraft. 4 Sergeant Stanley Burningham We have recently received a copy of a book, “Four Chigwell Brothers in the Forces”, written by Colin Burningham about his father and three uncles, and their army and RAF service during the war.

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