No 10 Group Exeter

Veryan Post Museum

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On the weekend of Aug 2nd and 3rd, Andrew Denyer came down to Cornwall to film interviews with several WWII Cornish observers for his new video, possibly to be called 'Sentinels of Britain' about the ROC in WWII. It was gloriously hot and sunny.
Lawrence

Photo 1 - Andrew Denyer filming ex WWII observer Bill Harford at the Mevagissey Post. 76 year old Bill served on the Post from 1942 to 1944. In the background is the very post in which he served. The Mevagissey Post is the best preserved wartime post in Cornwall and is of the concrete block type with ground floor rest room and first floor observation platform and 'cubby'. English Heritage are considering including this structure in their next round of listings. Note the post instrument set up near the post. It is currently used as a cattle food store.

Photo 2 - Photo shows ex Truro Operations Room full time W/Obs Eileen Brush being interviewed outside the Portman Building Society in the middle of Truro City. In the background over the main door to the Building Socierty is the commemorative plaque to the men and women of the ROC erected in 2000. Eileen joined the Corps as a 17 year old in 1944 and carried out a variety of duties in the Truro Ops Room, she rejoined in 1947 and only retired from the Corps in 1973.

Photo 3 - Photo shows Andrew Denyer filming and 'Dave' interviewing ex wartime observer Arthur Lyne in the middle of Truro City. Arthur is sitting in the exact postion of the former main door to the Truro Operations Room in 1942-45. The Ops Room building was demolished in the 1980s to make way for a new shopping block. Arthur is 90 years old and was a part time observer 1942 -1945 serving on Crew B in the Ops Room. He witnessed enemy bombing of the City when one bomb at least only just missed the Ops Room building.

Caption for Photo 4 - Andrew Denyer filming ex Observer Joe James with Dave doing the interviewing at the southernmost ROC post in the UK at the Lizard. Joe joined the Corps on Helston Post in 1943 at 16 years old and served until 1945. He re-joined in 1947 and retired in 1993 thus serving a massive 48 years. He has also kept an aircraft sighting log book from 1940 to the present day. In the background is the post instrument and the Orlit Type A Post c1949. Joe is sitting on the hatch of the nuclear post which has been preserved by the National Trust who own the site.

Photo 5- On Sunday 3rd August, during the filming for the new video by Andrew Denyer about the ROC in WWII, a post instrument, head and breast set and post binoculars were set up in the old Orlit 'A' Post at the Lizard, Cornwall. Photo shows former Ch/Obs Joe James operating the instrument and communications system as he would have done in wartime. The Lizard Post is the southernmost ROC Post and it was from the Lizard that the Spanish Armada was first sighted in 1588. A chain of warning beacons was lit from the Lizard Point all along the south coast to the Queen in Richmond and this was the first national warning system to be formed and it worked very successfully. The Elizabethan the First Beaconlighter is the emblem of the modern day Royal Observer Corps.

 Photo above shows Andrew Denyer videoing an interview with former wartime Truro Ops Room W/Obs Eileen Brush in the centre of Truro again in july 2003. Behind Eileen is the former Marks and Spencer building which was the site of the wartime ROC Ops Room. Just out of picture is the commemorative plaque to the members of the ROC in Cornwall now mounted on the wall of the Portman Building Society.

 "On August 29th video maker Andrew Denyer visited Truro to video record St Austell Town Band playing and audio recording the ROC song 'Sentinels of Britain'. This song was written in 1942 but has recently been arranged for brass band and has now been recorded as a march by St Austell Town Band. The recording took place at Truro College Recording Studios. Andrew hopes to use part of the soundtrack in the new ROC video he is producing on the ROC in WWII".

[16augl03 14:00]