Today's County in the Spotlight:Part 2

[mickthemaverick]

One coconut awarded!!

[bobins]

"The Fovant Badges are a set of regimental badges cut into a chalk hill, Fovant Down, near Fovant, in southwest Wiltshire, England. They are located between Salisbury and Shaftesbury on the A30 road in the Nadder valley; or approximately 1⁄2 mile (800 m) southeast of Fovant. They were created by soldiers garrisoned nearby, and waiting to go to France, during the First World War; the first in 1916. They are clearly visible from the A30 road which runs through the village. Nine of the original twenty remain, and are scheduled ancient monuments and recognised by the Imperial War Museum as war memorials. Further badges have been added more recently."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fovant_Badges


Fovant Badges
Marchibald.fly, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Do other countries do chalk figures and emblems ?

[myglaren]

Never been but my sister-in-law's maiden name was Trowbridge. Guess where she came from?

Am I right in thinking she may have relatives mentioned here?

Not a clue Mick. My wife had a falling out with her brothers when their parents died and there has been no contact with them in decades. We were forbidden from telling them that she had died (she knew her time was up). No chance of asking now.
All I knew was that her dad was a postman.

[bobins]

A very important, but little known Post Office.

"Highworth Post Office, the Auxiliary Gateway

Number 23, High Street, Highworth was the famous Highworth Post Office run by Mrs Mabel Stranks.
The Highworth Post Office was aptly renamed the 'Auxiliary Gateway'. Senior staff knew that their entire operation would be compromised if anyone found out what was going on at Coleshill House. They needed complete secrecy and a different address. The Post Office was a perfect 'go-between' with strangers visiting all the time and the Post Mistress known for her unassuming nature and discretion. The official address of the Auxiliary Gateway therefore became GHQ Auxiliary Units, c/o General Post Office, Highworth, Wiltshire and became the first port of call for all personnel visiting the Coleshill HQ."

https://www.staybehinds.com/coleshill/h ... ry-gateway

"The Auxiliary Units or GHQ Auxiliary Units were specially-trained, highly-secret quasi military units created by the British government during the Second World War with the aim of using irregular warfare in response to a possible invasion of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany, "Operation Sea Lion". With the advantage of having witnessed the rapid fall of several Continental European nations, the United Kingdom was the only country during the war that was able to create a multilayered guerrilla force in anticipation of an invasion.

The Auxiliary Units would fight as uniformed guerrillas during the military campaign. In the event of an invasion, all Auxiliary Units would disappear into their operational bases and would not maintain contact with local Home Guard commanders, who were to be wholly unaware of their existence. Although the Auxiliaries were Home Guard volunteers and wore Home Guard uniforms, they would not participate in the conventional phase of their town's defence but would be activated once the local Home Guard defence had been ended to inflict maximum mayhem and disruption over a further brief but violent period. They were not envisaged as a continuing resistance force against long-term occupation. The secrecy surrounding the insurgent squads meant that members “had no military status, no uniforms and there are very few official records of their activities”.

Service in the Auxiliary Units was expected to be highly dangerous, with a projected life expectancy of just twelve days for its members, with orders to either shoot one another or use explosives to kill themselves if capture by an enemy force seemed likely."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_Units

[NewcastleFalcon]

Five to choose from on the Vehicle Registration Area Code front for Wiltshire 1902-1974

AM
HR
MR
MW
WV

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

These are quite impressive


Caen.hill.locks.in.devizes.arp
Arpingstone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Regards Neil

[Hell Razor5543]

Not a flight you want to take on your own. That would require a team of three to traverse at a reasonable speed (one person to handle the boat, one to set the next lock, and one to work the current lock). It would take a day on your own, and about 6 hours with the team.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Yes and we did, round about the time this badge/sticker design was on many folks cars who had done the same thing.

Anyone else reading this who also did what it says on the badge


Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Wiltshire micro finder outer number 1.

What is the link between

A. the third novel by the British author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. It was published by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1955 and featured a cover design conceived by Fleming.

B. Wiltshire and particularly Devizes

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Yes and we did, round about the time this badge/sticker design was on many folks cars who had done the same thing.

Anyone else reading this who also did what it says on the badge


Regards Neil

Yes, been there done that. Interestingly we went on the day of the British GP as we were having a weekend away and SWMBO wanted to see the safari park. I was more interested in the GP so while she toured the park in a safari bus, I sat in my Delica in a nearby hill layby and watched the race on my newly installed Xtrons DVD/SATNAV/TV. I had to go from the safari park car park as my exhaust, running on used veggie oil, was causing a disturbance in the park!!

[bobins]

Wiltshire micro finder outer number 1.

What is the link between

Regards Neil

A rather odd tale of night-time smuggling from long ago including two barrels of brandy, a bolting donkey causing the brandy to be tipped off a bridge - or alternatively the smugglers intentionally tipping the barrels into the water, the two smugglers caught by an excise man as they 'fished' for the brandy barrels, and when asked what they were doing they told him they were raking for a cheese that had fallen in. The excise man retorted that he thought they were mad and that they would 'rake at the moon'. Hence the origins of the Devizes Moonrakers.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Hence the origins of the Devizes Moonrakers.

Correct and nicely summed up. Maybe Mick could supply a photo of the book cover! from Ian Fleming of the linked book

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Wiltshire micro finder outer number 1.

What is the link between

Regards Neil

BFTW

BFTW

[NewcastleFalcon]

Correct and nicely summed up. Maybe Mick could supply a photo of the book cover! from Ian Fleming of the linked book

Look at the times of those posts. Unless you are a very quick picture taker responding to my request, its a bit spooky that the front cover arrives the next minute after my post! I also expected the pic on the cover to be a bit more literal like a pans people dance, but it is refreshingly abstract

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I was compiling my post when bobins posted his so as I went to submit I got the 'another post has been submitted' notice, so in the time I took to read that and then post mine anyway, you had posted up your request!