Archive
-
Date
Author Jag Sherbourne retells her mother's wartime evacuation story
'I reckon you might be lucky' Pete says, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. 'The weather’s awful; there’s a good chance someone might be home.' A surge of excitement fails to overcome my nerves 'and then what?' I ask silently. The Somerset countryside
-
Date
Celebrating 170 years at the Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital in Norwich
This year, the Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is celebrating 170 years of caring for the county’s young people. We take a look at its past, present and future The past On April 3, 1854, the
-
Date
The role played by Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the D-Day landings
‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them’. It’s 80 years since the historic actions of D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history, and Laurence Binyon’s poignant war poem written for those that fell still resonates
-
Date
The people and places in Devon played in the D-Day landings
It’s 80 years since the D-Day landings in Normandy – and a time during which areas of Devon underwent a dramatic transformation. We look back on when the county played its crucial role in preparations for the largest seaborne invasion in history.
-
Date
When America Invaded Dorset
Forty years ago, my wife Sarah and I drove with our young children across the mid-west of America. In a small rural town in Nebraska, we stopped to fill up with petrol. Recognising my accent, the garage owner asked where we came from. 'Dorset,' I said
-
Date
A part of World War Two history preserved in Kent
An aircraft engineer who restores historic Spitfire fighter planes that “all have a story to tell” has said they must be kept flying for future generations ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Spitfires are famed for their role in the Second
-
Date
Dorset veteran recalls being captured as prisoner of war weeks after D-Day
A veteran who was captured as a prisoner of war just weeks after D-Day and was forced to march hundreds of miles was brought to tears as he remembered being reunited with his mother 10 months later. Ken Hay almost did not make it back home to Barking
-
Date
Suffolk vicar looks ahead to a ‘poignant’ D-Day anniversary with surviving veterans
A Suffolk vicar who has led services to honour the fallen in Normandy for more than a decade says this year’s commemoration marking 80 years since D-Day will be even more poignant. Rev Mandy Reynolds, Team Vicar in the Wilford Peninsula Benefice
-
Date
Veteran recalls ‘unbelievable’ sight of ships sailing to Normandy on D-Day
A Royal Navy veteran has recalled the “unbelievable” sight of the ships sailing to Normandy on D-Day – and how he felt “grateful” to be heading back to England afterwards. John Dennett, from Wallasey, remembers thinking “nothing can happen to us
-
Date
Cheshire and North Wales pilots recall how gliders featured in World War Two
Two surviving members of the Second World War Glider Pilot Regiment (GPR) have stressed the importance of the wooden aircraft on D-Day, saying “it couldn’t have been done another way”. Gliders, used to transport troops and supplies, were towed
-
Date
Celebrating notable Cotswold women of the past
History books (at least, until recent times) have often overlooked the role of women. But if you dig a little, fascinating tales come to light, not least here in the Cotswolds where unsung heroines, creative pioneers, and social and educational champions
-
Date
The life and legacies of Alan Turing
Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician and computer scientist, famous for breaking the Enigma code when he worked at Bletchley Park from 1939 until the end of the Second World War. After the war he lived in Wilmslow, and in 1948 joined Manchester
-
Date
Veteran recalls being thrown from ship in explosion weeks after D-Day
A Royal Navy veteran has recalled being thrown from his ship after an explosion that killed 31 people just weeks after D-Day. Stan Ford, who turned 99 on May 7, served on HMS Fratton, which escorted ships taking people back to the UK and was stationed
-
Date
Portsmouth chosen to mark D-Day because of its key role in preparing invasion
Portsmouth played a key role in the planning and preparation of the D-Day landings, which is reflected 80 years later by the country’s major commemoration being held in the Hampshire city. As early as August 1943 – 10 months ahead of the invasion
-
Date
I will shed a tear, says veteran ahead of Normandy return for D-Day anniversary
Second World War veteran Richard Aldred said that “when I go to Normandy, I’ll guarantee to you I will shed a tear”, as he spoke of the effect returning to France will have on him ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The 99-year-old counted
-
Date
Scottish village’s ‘pivotal’ role in secret preparations for D-Day landings
Situated on a quiet stretch of coastline in Dumfries and Galloway, the peaceful village of Garlieston does not look like a place that played a crucial role in the Second World War. But for anyone arriving in the village, the road sign proclaiming
-
Date
102-year-old Second World War veteran from Chingford flies again
A 102-year-old Second World War veteran has said it was “amazing” to fly once again, after taking to the air in a 1930s Dragon Rapide plane. Arthur Clark, a former RAF pilot who served in India and Singapore with the 2896 squadron formed in 1942
-
Date
D-Day: How to find out what your ancestors did in the Second World War
As the 80th anniversary of D-Day approaches, there aren’t many people old enough to remember the day that marked the turning point of the Second World War, when Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of north-west Europe
-
Date
1940s make-up trends and how to channel them today
These were the top trends of the time. The 6th of June marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, or the Normandy landings, which occurred during World War II. Almost a century later, a lot has changed in terms of how people dress and present themselves
