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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
FINDON CRICKET AND THE CANADIANS
Copyright Valerie Martin 2003
The 1st Canadian Division commandeered the local Findon Cricket Ground and their armoured vehicles tore up and down the green slope during practice manoeuvres. The local people say that their tanks clattered up and down the Long Furlong road every day — which may or may not be an exaggeration!
The Canadians laid wooden railway sleepers to make a temporary roadway across the hallowed turf. The precious Findon cricket pitch was cut and gouged by tank tracking and resulted in a maze of muddy furrows and mire of ruts.
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This photograph is taken from almost the exact position of an army gun during the war at the entrance to the Findon Cricket pitch. The weapon was a light machine gun fitted on top of the barrel of a field gun, possibly a twenty-five pounder, and was towed into position for practice. The soldiers fired at moving targets towed on trolleys attached to a jeep on a narrow gauge railway track. This track ran in a trench at the foot of Church Hill and only the target was visible above ground. (The nearby Findon Place was at this time occupied by the Canadians. The local children loved to play on the track when it was out of use. Michael Grand tells me that he and his friends spent many hours having rides down the slight incline.
By the end of the war, the landscape of the Findon cricket pitch had changed considerably. The departing Canadian guests had left behind their debris: a concoction of cans, broken concrete and litter. At that point the Findon men forgot Hitler and despaired as their precious game of cricket appeared to be doomed forever.
Thanks have to be given to Ernest Stammers of "Firbank" Cross Lane in Findon. He was credited with getting the Findon Cricket Club going again after the war. Ernest died at the age of 67 in 1953.
AN INTERESTING ANGLE ON THE ALLIEDS DURING WORLD WAR II... Ex-cons or not? This next wartime revelation may be true.... or it may have no foundation at all ....but it makes an interesting controversial angle on local stories. I have not found it actually documented anywhere. I have been told that it has been whispered that some of the Canadian troops shipped into Sussex were, in fact, convicted felons in their own country and had been officially pardoned their gaol sentences during the Second World War by "volunteering" to serve overseas! This may result from local gossip and whether this story grew from a single individual who was so described .... or to many.....I would not know.
Of course, I am told that this was only rumour at the time but the idea did spread when scuffles (and any form of trouble) with the foreign troops and local inhabitants broke out. Stories abounded and some of the foreign soldiers were reputed to be rough diamonds indeed and that their presence while here "kept the Military police busy" I am told. In retrospect, to ease the tension, these stories may have been all hushed up for the sake of local public morale. Who now remembers the details and who was going to come forward and document the truth and now admit...
"Yes, I was an ex-con and volunteered for service overseas" ? or
"I married an ex-con who came over here".
Continue if you would like to read about Operation Jubilee — 19th August 1942.
This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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Do let me know of anything you hear about Findon - not too controversial. Please note that opinions expressed in the Findon Chronicles are not necessarily reflective of my own thoughts.... but sometimes they are! |
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