Home Defence during
the Second World War, as seen through the eyes of Mr.E.R.Hill,
writing in the Froyle W.I.Scrapbook in 1952. |
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During this War the loss of husbands and sons
from the homes of Froyle was much less than in the previous one. The
names of Hubert Brownjohn, C.Goodyear, R.S.Morgan, W.A.Morris, and W.Stevens,
appear on the War Memorial together with those of Mr.Chubbs son,
Richard, who was killed in an air raid while on civilian war service
in London, and of Phyllis Savage, whose death was due to an accident
at her WAAF Camp. The village was too near points of danger such as Lasham and Bordon to be considered safe for official evacuees, though there were a number of voluntary evacuees. Because of this danger, the Home Defence was highly organised. Mr. E.R.Hill was Head of a capable band of Wardens. Mrs. Sangster organised a large company of First Aiders, which was able to carry on after she and Father Sangster left the village. At the Vicarage, and later at Park Edge, Mrs.Sumners house, there was a First Aid Station, with sub-stations at Mrs.Shells, Husseys Lane, Sylvesters, and Oak Cottage. In May 1940, Mr Hill formed a volunteer Fire Brigade. Beginning with a length of hose and a group of men looking at it, by July the Brigade was able to give a demonstration at Marelands, Bentley. Major Wade, lately retired from his command of the Farnham Fire Brigade, was loud in his praise. Meanwhile, better equipment was acquired and in September 1940 the Brigade was recognised as a branch of the Alton Rural Fire Service. In July 1943 Froyle was officially enrolled in the National Fire Service. |
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Its greatest triumph was on August 6th of that year.
Here follows the account
given by the Hampshire Herald: |
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A Fire Brigade competition was held, in which teams from Froyle
and Binsted took part, in addition to the regular and part-time members
of the N.F.S. At Alton, and a surprising feature was that the full-time
members of the service were beaten by the part-timers, while the Cup,
which was presented to the successful contestants by Mrs.Busby, was
awarded to Froyle, the most recently formed team and, incidentally,
the only one which included a woman.
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In spite of its position, Froyle was fortunate in having
no bombs on the village. One heavy bomb fell in High Woods making a
crater large enough to contain a cottage, and another large one fell
nearby. Neither of these had exploded, so they had to be dealt with
by the Aldershot authorities. Three bombs and a fire bomb fell in the
fields about a hundred yards from the main road. These did no harm whatever,
but traffic had to be diverted through Froyle village. The nights were most alarming when great fleets of German planes passed over the village, going to Coventry and Birmingham. There was a Searchlight Camp of about ten men, later becoming a Radar Station, in a field near the chalkpit in Well Lane. The work done there was of a highly technical nature, but the ladies of Oak Cottage, who had given the men leave to use their bathroom, were not a little amused at the inability of some of them to manage a common gas geyser. At the close of the War, a Welcome Home Fund was organised by Mrs.Emery and Mrs.William Rhodes, who raised about seven hundred pounds, which was divided among some eighty Froyle men who returned to the village. |
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Mr. E.R.Hill | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Air Raid Precautions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mr. E. Hill was Head Warden for Froyle and
his daughter, Ann, provided us with a superb insight into just how
the village pulled together in those dark days of the war. She had details
from Alton Rural District Council’s Air Raid Precautions, listing the
people in Froyle who could be called on in an emergency and I make no
excuse for reproducing it in full! |
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FROYLE’S TEAM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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According to his daughter Ann, Mr. Hill was delighted to be offered a horse by Mrs. Goschen, as he said it would save time cutting across country. |