Copyright Katie Hart – Just Regional
Jill Monk from Aylsham in Norfolk has passed away at the age of 89.
During the war Jill worked for the Special Duties Branch (part of the Aux Units) as a message courier for her father’s secret radio station. This was cleverly hidden in the coal hole of the family house at Aylsham where he was a doctor.
Jill would be sent out at night, commonly on horseback, to deliver any messages they had received. The messages were hidden inside split tennis balls and deposited via a disguised pipe. Jill had two horses, one chestnut, for riding during the day, and one black, for night exercises when she would ride cross-country.
Towards the end of the war Jill became a radar operator at the Chain Home Radar Station in Stoke Holy Cross. In 1946, she competed at the Aylsham Show on her then favourite mount, Merry Monarch, a horse she had also favoured, because of its dark coat colour, when out at night delivering secret messages. She remained a regular competitor at the Aylsham Show for many years, first as a horse rider and later as a judge and sponsor of the Highland Pony in-hand classes.
Her remarkable story is catalogued both in ‘With Britain in Mortal Danger’ and ‘Churchill’s Underground Army’ by John Warwicker or you can read our interview with her here.
We speak to Jill Monk about her time in the Special Duties Section (SDS)
Last week we added a report on the Aylsham Special Duties Out-Station in Norfolk.