Coleshill Estate & WW2 Auxiliary Units booklet now on sale !

 Books, Coleshill House, General, Shop  No Responses »
Oct 302019
 

If you’re interested in learning more about Coleshill House, the HQ and training centre for the Auxiliary Units, then we have the perfect booklet for you now available from our online shop !

Auxiliary Unit members from all over the country came to learn about building and living in the underground Operational Bases, explosives, sabotage and all the skills they would need to impact any German invasion. Secret radio’s were assembled in huts around the grounds.

This 22-page colour booklet takes you through the history of the Auxiliary Units at Coleshill House, the various buildings in use (and those you can still visit), contemporary photographs and much more. A perfect guide for a day out at the National Trust’s Coleshill Estate, home of Auxiliary Units.

At £4.95 these would make great Christmas presents. Go to our shop to order yours…

Find out more here: Staybehinds Shop

3 weeks to go…

 Books, Coleshill House, Events, General, OB's  No Responses »
Aug 302019
 

75th Anniversary Stand-Down event at Coleshill House, Sunday 22nd September.

Some of the exiting things to see at the big event on 22nd Sept, apart from the largest collection of Aux Units equipment ever assembled…

Researcher Bill Ashby has been busy producing a booklet about ‘Coleshill Estate in WW2 – General HQ Auxiliary Units 1940 – 1945’ that will be available at the event:

Roger Green (CART and The National Trust) has been active with a recent find in the grounds of Coleshill House which appears to be an early OB. Investigation and restoration project ongoing:

.. and we’ll have the Camp Commandant’s door to display !

tps://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/the-buscot-and-coleshill-estates/features/coleshill-underground-second-world-war-event-is-back

Who is this ? Did you know he was an Aux Intelligence Officer during the War ?

Book & Talk: Laura Quigley – South West Secret Agents…

 Books, Events, General  No Responses »
Mar 212018
 

Have just finished Laura Quigley’s highly readable South West Secret Agents: True Stories of the West Country at War. She weaves captivating threads of daring deeds that includes; “rescue operations as the exodus from France began, to the secret guerrilla army in Devon and Cornwall, this book will amaze and intrigue with the incredible stories of Jasper Lawn of N51, the Helford Flotilla and the first escape routes for POWs, agents and crashed airmen”.

Laura will be talking on the subject at Spurgeon Hall, Mutley Baptist Church, Mutley Plain, Plymouth PL4 6LB, on 24th April, 2018, 7:30pm. Free entry, donations welcome.

Tales of Peter Potter

 Books, General, Shop  1 Response »
Jun 132017
 

Peter Potter was an Auxilier with Fingringhoe Patrol in Essex. A new book has been written about his life by his friend and Aux Researcher Hugh Frostick. 

Peter Louis Potter shares his eventful life from “clodhopper to cloud-topper and fire-stopper”. His revealing and sometimes risqué tales range from Essex farming and village life, wartime service on Lancaster bombers, working in a mental asylum, and as a fireman in Colchester.

Never short of an idea for a laugh or an adventure, and often bending the rules, Peter gives a wonderful feel for how he and his family lived and worked at Fobbing on the Essex marshes and the industrialised Thames, and farming near Colchester at Easthorpe, Fingringhoe and Mersea Island.

When war came, Peter ran away from home to volunteer for RAF Bomber Command, leading to many exciting episodes in Churchill’s Secret Army and as a Lancaster rear gunner.

Peter’s skill as a raconteur has been well captured by Hugh Frostick. This highly entertaining account gives a fascinating insight into life and war in the 20th Century.

Peter Potter now lives in Elmstead Market and is a regular attendee at Boxted Airfield Museum, where he was stationed just after the war, as part of RAF liaison to hand over the station from the USAAF.

Peter celebrated his 92nd birthday on 30th May 2017. 

Author: Hugh Gunter Frostick
ISBN: 9780995793804
Published: 16 May 2017
Price: £10 plus £2 postage to UK. Add £10 signed by Peter Potter and Author (limited availability)
Attributes: Paperback, 294 pages with 75 black and white illustrations and 6 maps. Laminated full colour cover. Dimensions approx 217mm x 150mm x 18mm, 470g

ORDER HERE