3.
INDEX wartime commemorations WANT MORE INFORMATION? O
ver the centuries Kent’s strategic location – at the shortest sea crossing to Europe – has assured its place at the forefront of England’s defences.
The port of Dover, aka the ‘Lock and Key to the Kingdom’, was a vital military centre during the Great War. Two decades after, the county played a key role in several defi ning moments of World War Two, including the Dunkirk evacuation of May 1940 and, four years later, covert preparations for D-Day and the invasion of Europe. It was in the waters around Reculver (near Herne Bay) that inventor Barnes Wallis’ bouncing bombs were tested. Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay masterminded the brave and daring rescue of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk (codenamed Operation Dynamo) from secret tunnels below Dover Castle and Spitfi res and Hurricanes took off from airfi elds such as RAF Manston, Westenhanger and Headcorn to battle it out with Messerschmitt 109s in the skies over Kent.
4.
26TH JULY TO 30TH NOVEMBER valour, loss & sacrifice: chatham, the royal navy and the war at sea, 1914-1918, no. 1 smithery, the historic dockyard chatham
This exhibition celebrates the role played by Chatham Dockyard, its workers and the Royal Navy’s Chatham Port Division during the First World War. • Visit
www.thedockyard.co.uk
30TH JULY TO 3RD AUGUST poetry and poppies – riverhill himalayan
gardens, sevenoaks These picturesque gardens near Sevenoaks are situated on one of the highest points in Kent and will boast a stunning display of Flanders poppies in the shape of a huge poppy. There will also be an exhibition and recital of World War One poetry. • Visit
www.riverhillgardens.co.uk
The INDEX magazine
www.indexmagazine.co.uk 16TH TO 17TH AUGUST combined military ops –
headcorn aerodrome This display of military vehicles and aircraft promises to be an exciting family day out. See aircraft displays and military vehicles and watch groups carefully but realistically re-enacting battles from both world wars. • Visit
www.headcornevents.co.uk
20TH TO 21ST SEPTEMBER
war and the horse – dover
castle This evocative
commemoration of the part played by the Cavalry during the Great War features re-enactments, talks, music and plenty of activities for children. • Visit
www.english-heritage.org.uk/ dovercastle
If you’re interested in your county’s role in the two world wars, your local library will have plenty of books and leafl ets. Also check out: • Online resources such as the Ancestry Library Edition and Find My Past Community Edition plus the British Newspaper Archive (including the Dover Express 1914- 1918 and the Kent & Sussex Courier 1914-1918) • The Kent History and Library Centre’s First World War Time Spiral (Maidstone Library) charts events affecting Kent during the confl ict (
www.kent.gov.uk/libs) • The Kent Libraries, Registration and Archives’ hugely interesting and detailed interactive online timeline of Kent and Medway during the First World War (compiled by a Time2Give volunteer) (
www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/ entry/208714/First-World-War-Kent-Medway/#v ars!date=1914-04-13_00:00:00!)
IMAGES
1. King George V inspecting a squadron of WRNS during a morale boosting visit to Chatham during 1918
2. King George V inspecting Royal Navy Ratings at the barracks of HMS Pembroke during his 1918 visit to Chatham
3. Women Workers, c.1916-19. As the war went on and more men were conscripted to fi ght, women were for the fi rst time employed to take up their roles in heavy industry. Here a group photo shows a male foreman surrounded by his workers in the Painters Department at Chatham Dockyard
4. HMS Nubian shown in dry dock at Chatham after her bows were blown off by a German torpedo in 1916. Nubian’s mid and aft sections were joined with another destroyer HMS Zulu, whose stern section had been destroyed by a German mine. The work carried out at the dockyard saw the surviving sections of each ship joined together and renamed HMS Zubian
20TH TO 21ST SEPTEMBER
salute to the 40s –
the historic
dockyard chatham Immerse yourself in Forties nostalgia, see period vehicles, evacuees dressed in 1940s clothes and wartime entertainers. • Visit
www.thedockyard.
co.uk
29TH TO 30TH NOVEMBER
christmas on the home front: wwii experience
(sandling) – kent life
Join in the preparations for an authentic 1940s Christmas – make decorations, sing carols and sample some wartime Christmas cooking. • Visit
www.kentlife.org.uk
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