We continue to be encouraged by all the support
we have received since the BBC2 Restoration series. We
will be seeking funding from elsewhere to restore the
site. There will be more news on this as soon as we have
some developments.
Click here for
information on how to donate to Bawdsey Radar Trust.
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August 2010 |
 New
in the Transmitter Block: An Audiopoint listening station
with Oral History extracts.
First in the Field: A DVD of the very successful play,
First in the Field – the Secrets of Radar by Suzanne
Hawkes, is now available. Email
info@bawdseyradar.org.uk for details.
BBC2 Coast: Bawdsey will be featured in the current
series of Coast on Wednesday 1st September 2010 at 8.00pm.
The programme will focus on WAAFs and the valuable part
they played in the use of radar in the Second World War.
Peggy Butler and Gwen Reading, both of whom served at
Bawdsey during the war, will be interviewed in the
programme.
Volunteers: We need volunteers to help with opening
times for the exhibition and with fund raising. Please
contact us if you are able to
help.
2011 Opening Dates: These are now available –
click
here for details. |
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March 2010 |
First in the Field - The Secrets of Radar
A new play by local playwright Suzanne Hawkes to be
performed at various local venues Spring 2010.
For information about performance dates and tickets
click here
For more information about the play
click here.
Bawdsey Radar Newsletter 2010
Download the 2010 Newsletter from Bawdsey Radar
here
Bawdsey Radar Leaflet 2010
Download the 2010 Bawdsey leaflet
here |
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February 2010 |
BBC2 Coast
In autumn 2009 the BBC once again visited the Transmitter
Block. On this occasion it was the production team from
‘Coast’ on BBC2. The programme, which will be screened in
summer 2010, will focus on WAAFs and the valuable part
they played in the use of radar in the Second World War.
Peggy Butler and Gwen Reading, both of whom served at
Bawdsey during the war, will feature in the programme.
Peggy and Gwen have already contributed to our Oral
History project and you can hear selected snippets from
their interviews in the Oral History Sound Files.
Visit Bawdsey Manor and the Radar Exhibition in 2010
The present owners of Bawdsey Manor, the Toettcher family,
are pleased to welcome you to their family home which is
open to the public under the Invitation to View scheme.
In 2010 you can combine a visit to the Magic Ear Radar
Exhibition in the Transmitter Block with a guided tour of
the Manor and Gardens. The visit will give you an insight
into the history of the estate and the people who have
lived and worked here. You will have an opportunity to
explore some of the key features of the House and Gardens,
including the Pulhamite Cliff Walk. Enjoy breathtaking
views of the coast and River Deben over a buffet lunch
featuring seasonal and local Suffolk produce.
Tour dates 2010: 17th February, 17th March, 21st April,
12th May, 26th May, 9th June, 8th September, 22nd
September, 6th October, 17th November & 8th December.
Price £22.50 per person including buffet lunch (£27.50
Nov/Dec for festive seasonal lunch).
The visit starts at 11am and lasts about five hours.
Booking required. Bookings are made through the Mercury
Theatre on 01206 573948 or online at
www.mercurytheatre.co.uk. For more information go to
www.bawdseymanor.co.uk or
www.invitationtoview.co.uk |
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January 2010 |
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We are pleased to announce that Bawdsey Radar has received
a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the
continuation of the oral history project, Shout and
Whisper. Some of it is to be spent on collecting further
interviews but the major part is for the production of a
drama about the development of radar at Orfordness and
Bawdsey. Suzanne Hawkes and Black and White Productions
have been appointed to bring it to the stage.
FIRST IN THE FIELD – THE SECRETS OF RADAR
A new play by local playwright Suzanne Hawkes to be
performed at various local venues Spring 2010.
An Island of Secrets – rumours of a Death Ray – strange
towers rising above the Manor - flashing lights in the
dead of night and the ever present threat of invasion.
Will life for the villagers of Orford and Bawdsey ever be
the same again? And will the boffins come up with a
workable plan before the Luftwaffe start their bombing
raids in earnest?
Click here to read more about
the play. |
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December 2009 |
Dr E H Putley.
We are sad to report the death of Ernest Putley, aged 87,
on 29th November 2009 after a short illness. Ernest lived
in Malvern. He worked with A P Rowe at the
Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) in Malvern
during the Second World War. He was always helpful and
supportive of Bawdsey Radar.
Click here to read Dr Putley's
obituary from the Halesowen News.
Sir Edward Fennessy.
Sir Edward Fennessy, who died aged 97 on 21st November
2009, was a radar pioneer whose outstanding work during
the Second World War was followed by a successful business
career as managing director of Decca Radar, and later as
deputy chairman of the Post Office.
Click here to read Sir
Edward Fennessy's obituary from the Daily Telegraph. |
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September 2009 |
Open Day at Bawdsey Manor - 12th September 2009
10.30am to 4.30pm
Entrance at Gatehouse, Bawdsey Quay
Admission - £5.00
Children under 12 - Free
www.bawdseymanor.co.uk
01394 412396 |
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April 2009
Easter Sunday and Monday openings were our most
successful yet with well over 250 visitors on each
afternoon.
 On
Friday 10th April Bawdsey Transmitter Block was featured
on the One Show on BBC1 in Dan Snow's short documentary
about radar. Dan was accompanied by the daughter and
grandson of Arnold Wilkins, and they were filmed
discussing the remarkable pre-war achievements at
Orfordness and Bawdsey. (Click for larger image).
The filming for the documentary took place in February and
off camera, Mrs Taylor related a story to us that her
father Arnold Wilkins had told her about the first
successful radar experiment. Watson Watt and Wilkins were
in the van near Daventry detecting reflected radio signals
from the Heyford bomber overhead when their torch
batteries gave up and they had to resort to candlelight!
Even the van was makeshift – it was an old ambulance
fitted out with their equipment. |
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March 2009 |
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Download the NEW Bawdsey leaflet
here (requires Adobe Reader). |
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January 2009 |
Bawdsey Radar Group is now the Bawdsey Radar Trust, an
incorporated charitable company, and existing members of
Bawdsey Radar Group have become Friends of Bawdsey Radar
Trust. The changeover to Bawdsey Radar Trust has involved
us in adapting our publicity material and our website but
otherwise it is ‘business as usual’.
Click here for the Opening Dates
for 2009. |
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November 2008 |
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Annual General Meeting (2008) - You can view the
Chairman's Report & the Oral History Report from the
Bawdsey Radar Group AGM held on Saturday 18th October 2008
by clicking
here |
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April 2008 |
Download the latest newsletter from Bawdsey Radar Group
here |
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January 2008 Annual General Meeting (2007) & Oral
History Report - You can view the
Chairman's report from our AGM in November by clicking
here |
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September 2007
Open Day at Bawdsey Manor
On the 23rd September 1937 the Radar Research Station at
Bawdsey was commissioned as RAF Bawdsey, the first fully
operational radar station in the world. To celebrate the
seventieth anniversary of this historic event the Bawdsey
Radar Group and the members of Bawdsey village held an
Open Day in the grounds of Bawdsey Manor thanks to the
generosity of Neils and Ann Toettcher, the owners.
To read the report of this very successful Open Day click
here. |
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To see the Felixstowe TV video filmed on the Open Day
click
here.
The video has a short introduction featuring "Winston
Churchill" followed by an account given by Sqn Ldr Derek
Rothery RAF of the building of Bawdsey Manor and its
subsequent use before, during and after WW2.
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July 2007 |
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Pigeon Release Cancelled: We regret to have to announce
the pigeon release on 29th July 2007 has had to be
cancelled. Over the past fortnight a number of trial
releases have been undertaken and serious difficulties
have been encountered. The pigeons' natural behaviour
appears to have been unsettled by a combination of wearing
the message carriers and being released from directions
other than north of their home loft. On the occasion of
the first 'proper' release from Cardington Sheds one
fatality was suffered and several pigeons didn’t return. |
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June 2007
Download the latest newsletter from Bawdsey Radar Group
here |
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April 2007
Felixstowe TV filmed at Bawdsey on Easter Monday. You can
see the report by clicking
here |
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January 2007
Annual General Meeting (2006) - You can view the
Chairman's report from our AGM in November by clicking
here |
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August 2006
Oral History Project:
David Robertson (the designer of the ‘Magic Ear’
Exhibition) has been appointed as Oral History Project
Co-ordinator.
To date 27 interviews have been carried out by volunteers.
It is hoped that at least 60 interviews will have been
completed by the end of the project.
See our Oral History page for
more information.
If you spent time at Bawdsey Radar Station or have stories
to tell about events in and around the station please do
contact us! |
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July 2006
Architectural Heritage Fund Grant for Bawdsey Radar Group
for Transmitter Block, Bawdsey
The Architectural Heritage Fund has offered Bawdsey Radar
Group a grant of £4,400 towards the cost of an Options
Appraisal on the Transmitter Block to be carried out this
autumn by The Morton Partnership. The purpose of the
appraisal is to identify the most beneficial options for
the future of the Transmitter Block and establish the
likely viability of the project.
The Morton Parnership is a firm of Civil and Structural
Engineers that specialises predominately in historic
buildings. They have been involved in many projects from
repairs to Canterbury Cathedral to preparing a
Conservation Statement for the Anti-Aircraft (A.A.) Dome
Trainer on the disused wartime airfield at Langham in
Norfolk. For more information about The Morton Partnership
and The Architectural Heritage Fund try
www.themortonpartnership.co.uk and
www.ahfund.org.uk
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December 2005
Annual General Meeting 2005 - You can view the Chairman's
report from our AGM in November by clicking
here.
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August 2005
Bawdsey's Radar History to be Recorded
Thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant of £47,900 the
memories of people who were part of the development and
use of radar at Bawdsey will be made available to future
generations. The reminiscences of people involved with
radar at Bawdsey from the late 1930s to the 1960s will be
captured in video and audio formats and stored in the
Suffolk and Essex Record Office archives and at The
National Archive at Kew. Some of the records will also be
accessible from this website. Suitable materials will be
used to produce a school resource pack to enthuse and
inform schoolchildren of the vital work which took place
at Bawdsey. This oral history project, which has the title
'Shout and Whisper', to represent radar's huge electronic
transmission and the reception of the minute signal
reflected from the aircraft, is linked to the longer term
project to restore the Transmitter Block at Bawdsey.
Visitor Attraction - Sunday 18th September 2005
Peter Walker of the VMARS (Vintage and Military Amateur
Radio Society) is bringing a 1943 Bedford 3 ton truck,
model QLR, to the Transmitter Block on Sunday 18th
September 2005. The intention is to establish a
Bawdsey-Arnhem radio link. This type of truck is set up as
a mobile training room showing how Morse code, radio
operating and procedure and telephone exchange operating
were taught in the Royal Signals. Visitors, including
children, are very welcome inside the truck.
Magic Ear Exhibition
The Magic Ear Exhibition is proving to be a great success
with over 100 visitors on Sunday 7th August 2005. The
exhibition will continue to be open every Sunday and Bank
Holiday Monday from 12.00 to 16.00 until Sunday 18th
September 2005.
MOD Faststream Graduates Event
We are delighted that Bawdsey has been adopted by the MOD
Faststream Graduates as their 2005 Event. It is hoped that
this will result in the refurbishment of the Transmitter
Block’s washroom together with some other general
improvements to the building. We have been impressed by
the enthusiasm of those involved.
History Events
We took part in Landguard Fort’s Victory Day on Sunday
14th August.
We have been invited to take part in the Ipswich Museum
and Galleries Local History Fair, which takes place in the
Wolsey Gallery at Christchurch Mansion on Saturday 3rd
September 2005 and also the ‘Felixstowe Festival of Past
Times’ on Sunday 9th October, organised by the Lions Club
of Felixstowe. |
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May 2005
Grant News! Bawdsey Radar Group has recently received two
grants. £8100 has been received from Home Front Recall -
the Big Lottery Fund. This has enabled us to install
electricity in the Transmitter Block and set up the Magic
Ear exhibition. The idea behind this grant is to fund
activities that will allow communities to come together
and ensure that all generations can commemorate and
remember the contribution that the people of Britain made
in the Second World War.
The second grant of £500 is from EEMLAC culture online.
This money is to help us engage users in the BBC People's
War Project. |
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April 2005
A radar exhibition designed by David Robertson and
entitled 'The Magic Ear' will be on display from 1st May.
The exhibition tells the story of a technology and an
institution which helped win a war - and shape our future.
It reveals how scientists came together in total secrecy
before World War 2 to prove that radio waves could locate
aeroplanes, ships and other targets and how their
invention dramatically affected the course of the
conflict. It explains how their work laid the foundations
for the age of electronics and the computer, and how the
link between defence and civil research remains fruitful
to this day.
David Robertson is a communications professional
specialising mainly in science and technology. He designed
'The Magic Ear' in 2000 and it has been on display in
Malvern, Bletchley Park and the Fleet Air Arm Museum,
Yeovilton. |
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November 2004 Filming at Transmitter Block
On 20th November a Canadian film crew, who are making a
program on the Battle of Britain for a Canadian History TV
Channel, came to visit and film at the Transmitter Block.
'Echoes and Reflections'
A new book for those interested in the history of radar
has just been published called 'Echoes and Reflections'.
It is by Keith Wood, who was a Bawdsey Boffin, and part of
it is about his experiences at Bawdsey as a member of the
Airborne Radar Team. In 1937 he flew on the first airborne
radar test flight. ISBN: 1843941007 and Price: £13.95
New Artifacts Received
We are delighted to have been given a copy of 'Radar Days'
by E G Bowen CBE FRS together with a copy of the Closure
Ceremony Programme on Monday 25th March 1991 and Final
Mess Dining-In Night. The book was presented to us by the
widow of Flt/Lt Cookson who was stationed at Bawdsey at
the time of the closure of Bawdsey as the base for C
Flight 85 Squadron operating surface-to-air missiles.
We have also received a copy of the 1974 Farewell
Dinner/Dance Menu from Mr George Watson, brother of Flt/Lt
C B Watson who was serving at Bawdsey when it closed as an
air defence radar station. |
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October 2004 Clacton Radio Club
Clacton Radio Club set up a special event radio station,
GB2BTB, and transmitted from Bawdsey Transmitter Block.
They managed approximately 70 contacts, mostly from the UK
but also from Florida, Canada, Russia and Poland. |
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September 2004 Meeting at Bawdsey Manor
The meeting on Wednesday 15th September at 7.30pm at
Bawdsey Manor was very well attended. Roger Thomas
(English Heritage's Military Support Officer) spoke on
'The History of Radar at Bawdsey' and Brian Greaves
(volunteer at Bletchley Park) spoke on 'German Radar'.
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BBC2 Restoration Programme Summary
It may not have been the most picturesque building in the
Restoration Project but it is the only one that has saved
lives. Before and during World War 2 this was one of the
most important buildings in England.
The Transmitter Block is on the Bawdsey Manor Estate where
the famous physicist, Sir Robert Watson-Watt and his team
developed RADAR to the point where it became an
operational reality.
Without the work done at Bawdsey we would have lost the
Battle of Britain in 1940 and the outcome of World War 2
would probably have been very different.
A big thank you to all those who voted for us. You can see
from the final voting figures how close we came to
winning:
Building Votes:
Grammar School 113,326
Working Man's Institute 111,015
Gayle Mill 109,220
Bawdsey 108,279
Knockando 86,266
Sherborne House 82,986
Playhouse 74,453
Archbishop's Palace 62,401 |
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