The Home Front

Home Defence during the Second World War, as seen through the eyes of Mr.E.R.Hill,
writing in the Froyle W.I.Scrapbook in 1952.

During this War the loss of husbands and sons from the homes of Froyle was much less than in the previous one. The names of Hubert Brownjohn, C.Goodyear, R.S.Morgan, W.A.Morris, and W.Stevens, appear on the War Memorial together with those of Mr.Chubb’s son, Richard, who was killed in an air raid while on civilian war service in London, and of Phyllis Savage, whose death was due to an accident at her WAAF Camp.
The village was too near points of danger such as Lasham and Bordon to be considered safe for official evacuees, though there were a number of voluntary evacuees. Because of this danger, the Home Defence was highly organised. Mr. E.R.Hill was Head of a capable band of Wardens. Mrs. Sangster organised a large company of First Aiders, which was able to carry on after she and Father Sangster left the village. At the Vicarage, and later at Park Edge, Mrs.Sumner’s house, there was a First Aid Station, with sub-stations at Mrs.Shell’s, Hussey’s Lane, Sylvesters, and Oak Cottage.
In May 1940, Mr Hill formed a volunteer Fire Brigade. Beginning with a length of hose and a group of men looking at it, by July the Brigade was able to give a demonstration at Marelands, Bentley. Major Wade, lately retired from his command of the Farnham Fire Brigade, was loud in his praise. Meanwhile, better equipment was acquired and in September 1940 the Brigade was recognised as a branch of the Alton Rural Fire Service. In July 1943 Froyle was officially enrolled in the National Fire Service.

Its greatest triumph was on August 6th of that year. Here follows the account given by the Hampshire Herald:

“A Fire Brigade competition was held, in which teams from Froyle and Binsted took part, in addition to the regular and part-time members of the N.F.S. At Alton, and a surprising feature was that the full-time members of the service were beaten by the part-timers, while the Cup, which was presented to the successful contestants by Mrs.Busby, was awarded to Froyle, the most recently formed team and, incidentally, the only one which included a woman.”

(Picture on the right of the winning team: from left to right, Mr.Frank Laney, Mr.S.Beckhurst, Mr.Price, Mr.Lawrence, Miss Banning, Mr.Joe Lee, Mr.E.R.Hill.)

In spite of its position, Froyle was fortunate in having no bombs on the village. One heavy bomb fell in High Woods making a crater large enough to contain a cottage, and another large one fell nearby. Neither of these had exploded, so they had to be dealt with by the Aldershot authorities. Three bombs and a fire bomb fell in the fields about a hundred yards from the main road. These did no harm whatever, but traffic had to be diverted through Froyle village.
The nights were most alarming when great fleets of German planes passed over the village, going to Coventry and Birmingham. There was a Searchlight Camp of about ten men, later becoming a Radar Station, in a field near the chalkpit in Well Lane. The work done there was of a highly technical nature, but the ladies of Oak Cottage, who had given the men leave to use their bathroom, were not a little amused at the inability of some of them to manage a common gas geyser.
At the close of the War, a Welcome Home Fund was organised by Mrs.Emery and Mrs.William Rhodes, who raised about seven hundred pounds, which was divided among some eighty Froyle men who returned to the village.”

Mr. E.R.Hill

Note:	The money left over when all the Welcome Home Fund had been distributed was used to form the Pansy Club, which in turn became the Over 60s and is now still very active as The Good Companions.
Note:	You can read more about the searchlight by following the Searchlight item on the Froyle at War menu.

Air Raid Precautions

Mr. E. Hill was Head Warden for Froyle and his daughter, Ann, provided us with a superb insight into just how the village pulled together in those dark days of the war. She had details from Alton Rural District Council’s Air Raid Precautions, listing the people in Froyle who could be called on in an emergency and I make no excuse for reproducing it in full!

FROYLE’S TEAM

Name	Address	Notes	Task
Savage, Albert	Millcourt Cottage	Available at night	First Aid
White, Harriet	Lower Froyle	Can’t drive, no car	First Aid
Savage, Herbert	Millcourt Cottages	Farm Worker	First Aid
Cousins	Coldrey	Has motor cycle	First Aid
Savage, Doreen	Millcourt Cottages	Works Crosby & Co	First Aid
Cox, Hilda	West End	Will go out day or night	First Aid
Rix, Gordon	Homestead Cottage	Plumber	Fire Guard
Savage, William	Brewery Cottages	Works at F.Stevens	Rescue Party
Pinnells, Alfred	Lower Froyle	Was in Army. Pedal cycle	Rescue Party
Vickery, Charles	Lower Froyle	Available at night	Rescue Party
Shell, Andrew	Husseys Farm	Has car. Day or Night	Rescue Party
Rhodes, Frederick	1 Brewery Cottage	Can do day or night	Rescue Party
Dedman, Albert	Husseys Lane	Worked Husseys Farm	Rescue Party
Brownjohn, William	Rock House Farm	Farmer. Has motor cycle	Rescue Party
Pinnells, Frank	Lower Froyle	Ex-Service. Farm worker	Warden
Harvey, Theodore	St.Catherines, UF Car.	Commander Retd	Warden
Cousins, Edward	Coldrey Lane	Has motor cycle	Warden
Tabb, Frank	Rose Cottage, LF	Alton Hairdresser. Has Austin car. Trained as warden in London	Warden
Cox, Albert	Whiteway Cottage		Warden
Hargrave, George	Froyle Mill	Can drive. Day or night	Warden
Blanchard, William	The Square, UF	Can drive	Warden
Blunden, Charles	Ovington Bungalow	Can drive. Builder	Rescue Party
Robinson, Peggy	Prince of Wales Inn	Day or night. Steel hat given	Fire Guard
Milne, Francis	Chappell Cottages School age	First Aid	Messenger
Lythgoe, H	Park Edge, UF	Worked in garden	First Aid
Lawrence, W.G.	Lower Froyle		First Aid
Ezzard, J	Upper Froyle		Fireman
Beckhurst, Richard	Lower Froyle		Rescue Party
Squibb, Maurice	Upper Froyle	Motor cycle	First Aid
Batchelor, J.W	Rye Bridge	Motor cycle	Messenger
Bannon, Mrs	Brocas Farm	Can drive. Has car	Ambulance driver
Lady Smiley	Froyle House	Can drive. Has car	Ambulance driver
Vivian, Ernest	Lower Froyle	Master butcher. Can drive. Has van	Ambulance driver
Glasspool, Ernest	Millcourt Cottages	Gardener
Milne, Mrs. Mercy	Chappell Cottages	At Vicarage. Has cycle	First Aid Helper
Vincent, William	2 Park Lane	Any time	Phone duty
Rose, Walder	Manor House	Any time. Anti-gas course	First Aid.
Hill, Ernest Rivers	Elm Croft	Builder, Undertaker. Any time. Has car.	Head Warden Phone duty
Andrew, Wilfred	Blundens Cottage	Farmer. Has car
Hill, Mrs. Hilda	Elm Croft	Trained	First Aid
Mabb. Minnie	Gothic Cottage	Any time. No car	First Aid Helper
Nash, Miss E	Lower Froyle		First Aid Helper
Knight, Mrs L	Lower Froyle		First Aid Helper
Pelton, Miss M	Oak Cottage	Day or night. No car	First Aid Helper
Cherrill	Lower Froyle	No car	First Aid Helper
Shilling, Mrs A	Lower Froyle	No car	First Aid Helper
More, Mrs R	Hodges Farm	Has a car	First Aid Helper
Sumner, Nina	Park Edge	Day only. Has car	First Aid
Walker, Vera	Oak Cottage	Any time. Will cook	Ambulance
Burns, Mary	Sylvesters Farm	Day or night. No car	First Aid
Cherrill, Miss G	Ewelme, LF	Day. No car	First Aid
Goschen, Ethleen	Sylvesters Farm	Day or night. Can drive anything. No car, but can offer a horse	Ambulance driver
Laney, Frank	Coldrey	Day or night. No car	First Aid

According to his daughter Ann, Mr. Hill was delighted to be offered a horse by Mrs. Goschen, as he said it would save time cutting across country.