THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — these Findon Chronicles were created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home village of Findon,
West Sussex, U.K.    Everyday stories about real people.

PREPARATION IN FINDON FOR THE SECOND WORLD WAR — 1939

Copyright Valerie Martin 2000

First published in Along the Furlong in August 2001.

The spirit of the tortuous Second World War years was recreated at St. John the Baptist School in Findon in April 2000 when the pupils took part in a special tea party. The children dressed in typical 1940s costumes and entertained their families, villagers and residents at Nightingales sheltered accommodation with a sing-song. With the help of their grandparents, they also prepared cakes following wartime recipes, which they served to their appreciative audience recreating the war days in Findon.

Germany invaded Czechoslovakia on Tuesday 14th March 1939.  Not much of consequence happened during those early wartime months in 1939 that Findon was lulled into a state of false security.

By the summer of 1939, few Findonians realised the outbreak of World War Two was only a few weeks off.

At this time in nearby Worthing, a Town Hall official revealed the shattering news that a survey of 228 basements beneath properties in the town, showed that only one would be of any use during an air raid.

John Stepney in Findon forwarded this fascinating photograph taken pre 1939 of the scene at Lancing's Widewater....

"Looks rather different today.  Wonder if a lot of the gardens etc. shown on the postcard were destroyed to defend us against WW2 invasion.

I have known the Widewater since 1953 and it still looks the same today as it was then.

Guess the bridge was destroyed to slow Hitlers proposed advance after the invasion.  JS"

Here is the same scene today.... not a vestige of any gardens.... except the marks on the ground perhaps.    You can get your bearings from the two flat-roofed white properties on the opposite bank

By July 1939, searchlights lit up the sky on dark nights.

On Friday 11th August 1939 the Home Office mounted a trial of the blackout in London. It attracted thousands of sightseers, who treated the event as if it was an entertainment rather than a preparation for war. 

Germany went on to invade Poland on Friday 1st September 1939 and the dreaded blackout was introduced in Findon which meant lighting was extinguished for the duration of the hostilities of the Second World War. This was to stop lights on the ground showing enemy aircraft where to drop their bombs.  Special Air Raid Wardens patrolled the streets after dark to make sure that no lights were visible from the windows of houses and if there was a chink.... there was a loud banging on the front door.  In the end, blackout curtains were made to stop light escaping from windows in houses. Villagers took a long time getting used to the Blackout. 

This next bit always makes me smile. When men went out in the evening they were advised to leave their shirt-tails hanging out so that they could be seen by cars with dimmed headlights!

Vehicles had headlights reduced to a top-shaded slit that barely let light shine further than the car's bonnet. It was not enemy bombs that brought the first causalities.  Road casualties had more than doubled and by the New Year more than 20% of the population had come to grief in one way or another in the blackout. People fell into ditches, tripped up kerbs or stumbled into the path of an oncoming car. Supplies of torches became scarce and stocks of batteries ran out.

Blackout procedures were subsequently modified. Council workers were out in force, painting white bands around all lamp posts and other obstacles along important streets, and picking out kerbs and crossways with white markings. All traffic lights were now fitted with blackout shields, which allowed only a small cross of light to be seen instead of the usual full circle.

Even though steps were taken to make the streets safe, without proper lighting thousands of people were victims of road accidents before the bombing even started.  The ensuing difficulties encountered by this brought a permanent road change in Findon as elsewhere — the painting of the now familiar white guidelines down the centre of roads.

The news on the radio reported on 1st September 1939 that London school children would be evacuated to the country and nearby Worthing had over 10,000 evacuees billeted on the town. 

Two days later, on 3rd September 1939, Britain and France retaliated and declared war on Germany and, together with the rest of their countrymen, the villagers of Findon found themselves at war.

By this time, sufficient trenches had been dug in the nearby Worthing parks to accommodate some 3,000 inhabitants should they be caught out in the streets if the area's five air raid sirens ever yowled out their warning that an enemy attack was imminent. 

In 1939 the agricultural wage was only 35/- a week for the Findon labourer on the land. By the following year it had risen to 48/-.

Brian Chappell was a young lad living in Findon at the time and he remembers the day that war broke out.  It was a fine summer day with the sun shining.   After listening to the Prime Minister's speech he went to The Square where he was rather surprised to already see an ARP Warden in full yellow oilskin jacket and trousers, complete with gas mask and a newly painted steel helmet.  (Brian was to later become a messenger for the ARP, but that job did not last for very long — as there were no messages to deliver in Findon).

I have discovered that preparations began for Findon to become part of the country's important frontline defence. It has to be remembered that only a few dozen miles of sea separated us from the grey hordes of German Panzers and squadrons of German bombers waiting to pounce from occupied French soil. The news grew more threatening and villagers reported to collect their gas masks. Strong Boxes, more usually known as Pill Boxes were constructed.  Their builders were given six weeks to build them at a cost of £200 each. 

Machine-gun posts, trenches, rifle posts, anti-tank devices reinforced by scaffolding, mines and barbed wire all played a part. All road signposts were taken down and the church bells ceased to be rung. The military forbid access to the Downs by the public.  Large areas of Findon were commandeered for training and defence. Wildlife suffered too and in particular the pheasants and partridges were shot without a thought for whether it was in season or out.

On Monday 16th October 1939 Britain suffered the first dreaded horrendous air-raid.

Every part of Findon was affected by the war.  Peter Trounce from Ontario in Canada (an ex-Brit from nearby Worthing 55 years ago) tells me that while at High School he helped dig trenches in Findon Valley to catch German gliders landing (that was before he migrated across the pond in 1948).

New tank roads were laid on the Downs. Army camps, (tented or more permanent), sprang up in fields and estates. Army exercises with their "friendly fire" destroyed farms and small hamlets. The Square in Findon boasted a sandbagged rifle post. Worthing lads were bussed to Findon Valley to dig ditches across open ground to trap German troop-carrying gliders in the event of invasion.

The Findon Manor Hotel became the Regimental headquarters controlling the Territorials, and later, units of the 2nd Canadian Division, both mounting defences which included barbed wire, mines and  391 - 5 ft. x 5 ft. concrete blocks.

It was at this time that the number 5 (205) bus started. This service ran on gas and would conveniently stop at any point to pick up passengers and the charge to Worthing was 9d return.

Above is a photograph taken in 1944 showing a barn in Mill Lane at High Salvington above Findon on the downland.   Nothing unusual about that..... but there is something strange on the roof.....an Air Raid Siren positioned there to warn local inhabitants of an impending German raid.

Note:   The sandbags stacked next to the flint wall in the right foreground.

 

Continue if you would like to read....An Evacuee Remembers

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — was launched by Valerie Martin in January 1999 and will grow to be a historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex, U.K.