Jun 162019
 

CART will be at Colchester Garrison, Essex as part of Armed Forces Day, hosted by the 16th Air Assault Brigade on Saturday 29th June. If you’re around. Drop by for a chat..

Researchers will be on hand complete with a display of equipment & information about local Auxiliary Units. Find out what they would have done if Hitler had invaded in 1940. Some members of the Auxiliary Units went on to join the SAS and were dropped into France for D-Day in 1944.

https://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/event/16-air-assault-brigade-and-colchester-garrison-show-on-armed-forces-day/

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

Mar 232014
 

Don HandscombeToday we have added a full patrol report on the Thundersley Auxiliary Unit Patrol in Essex.

The membership of the Thundersley patrol has a complex history with many members, though it appears that some were discharged as not coming up to the mark, using the “returned to unit” process also adopted by the SAS and other elite units.

Thanks to Auxilier Don Handscombe for the help given to Dr Will Ward when he was researching the patrol.

You can read the full report here 

 

Apr 292013
 

Essex FlagToday we have published ten patrols in Essex and a basic overview.

Dr Will Ward, our CIO for Dorset, was born in Essex so he has researched and collated the history of these patrols.

The reports vary in quantity of information dependent on what we know at the present time. If you can help fill in any gaps please do contact us.

Birch (Layer-de-la-Haye) Patrol
Bures Patrol
Chelmsford (Marconi) Patrol
Maldon Patrol
Danbury Patrol
Purleigh (Bicknacre) Patrol
Mayland (Steple) Patrol
Hockley Patrol
Canvey Island Patrol
Rochford Patrol

You can see them all here