My Recordings Web Site: http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Charlotte_Peters_Rock/
RAF Cranage News
20.1.2004
Finally, I emailed Mr Ken Robinson, the man at English Heritage who had travelled to the site to schedule the 4 pillboxes, I battle HQ, I sleeping shelter and I gun emplacement.
"Did you," I said, "when you looked at the buildings which you had scheduled, also look at the 'built site', at all?"
He emailed back and said, "No."
So, I started writing all over again to Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Also, I wrote to various other people; MPs, Councillors, press sources, etc.
I pointed out that the design of the Air Raid Shelters was unique, and that that should be the trigger to have them scheduled. I asked that the whole of the 'built site' be scheduled.
At last, I had a letter from Tessa Jowell, to say that a lady called Leila Al Kazwini would now investigate the 'built site', if I would send some information about the Air Raid Shelters.
So, I did.. and, presumably it is now being investigated.
To what end? Who can say?
Watch this space!
To begin this page, I must express my thanks to numerous people who have been generous with their time, their history and the results of many years of painstaking work. Without their help I could not be waging this battle. In particular Hugh Budgen and Michael Lewis have gone out of their way to help. Tony Harratt, who has researched 96 Squadron, has allowed me to use the results of this research. David Smith's book Action Stations - Airfields of the North West of England has been invaluable.There is still more to find out about what happened at RAF Cranage, the people who served there and local people who worked in and around the base. If you are in a position to help, please contact me. I am really interested to know about the people who served at No2 Navigation School - later Central Navigation School. I am interested in photographs of the site and the people who worked there, and will copy and return them safely to you. I would like to know about the times when the USAAF, 14th Liaison Squadron - and later the USAF - used the base.
contact: 0156 572 2738 - email - Holly House, Middlewich Road, Allostock, Knutsford, Cheshire. WA16 9JX
Watch this space for more news!
Exhibitions booked
Friday, 7th, Saturday, 8th & Sunday, 9th November, 2003
Sandbach Literary Institute, Sandbach,
Cheshire.
For Remembrance weekend
The History of RAF Cranage
With generous help from Sandbach Town Council. 31st July, 2003 - Town Hall, Chester - with
the Royal Aeronautical Society 21st April Well, it's been an interesting few days. My information
leaflets have been Having had the Posters and fliers since the 11th April, Sandbach Library
staff suddenly returned them - by first class post - on the 17th April, after I
had spoken to Helen Perry, of Knutsford Library. So that's interesting, though
I'm not a conspiracy theorist. It seems I'm not allowed to say that Mr Jeremy Taylor, the
Chief Executive of and Mr Bert Grange, The Leader of Cheshire County Council,
are sitting on the fence - together with Mr George Osborne, who is the
Member of Parliament for this constituency. The 'terrible' things I wrote can
be found here Cheshire
Libraries and Cultural Services Mission Statement can be found here I will be writing to the County Librarian and Information
Officer, Mr Ian Dunn, at County Hall Chester, Cheshire. CH1 1SF - dunni@cheshire.gov.uk If anyone else would like to write to him, please do. Freedom is not a state lightly to be lost. I always thought that, in England,
I could take freedom for granted. But it seems that there is always someone
chipping away at it...a little corner here.. a small edge there..and soon,
what will be left.? It seems that two world wars are not enough to stop the
censoring of information about our history. As human beings what are we - if we
have no history; no idea of where we came from; of what happened to bring us to
this point? The lives of our young people were laid down for our freedom. Don't
our officials know this? If you have the time please read the letters which you can
find on the various pages which I have added to this site SUPPORTIVE LETTERS I am collecting memories and memorabilia (or copies) at each
Exhibition. If you would like to contact me to pass on information/photographs
for copying etc. please feel free to do so. My Events page has just been updated - for all events. 20.5.2003 NEXT
TIME? Oh yes, there will be a next time...and others I suppose I'd better get back to the 'interaction' with Cheshire
County Council and it's Library 'Service'..but not before I begin again with
English Heritage. Are you all still writing letters? It seems that he Chief
Executive of Cheshire County Council is getting 'the odd one or two'.. Keep
sending, please. (see RAF Cranage page or address) 10th April I understand that John 'Cats Eyes' Cunningham - or his air
gunner - might have either learned or taught Navigation at RAF Cranage.
Can anyone tell me more? Please? 9th April I now have three letters from people who have joined Dr John
Schofield, Head of Military Programmes, English Heritage, and Andrew Martindale,
Regional Officer for English Heritage, on the fence. They are They all state that they wish to wait for the outcome of the
Public Inquiry into the proposed Gas Processing Plant, which will swamp and ruin the
site. Thanks to Michael Lewis, I have recently been invited
to speak to various aviation groups More will follow. People are asking to take fliers to put out in the community. I am printing
as fast as I can, and they have their fliers. Thank you, to you all. Andrew Martindale of English Heritage, still has not contacted me. I
am beginning to feel 'persona non grata'. Such a pity. 6th April Stuart McMillan - formerly of The Defence of
Britain Project - states that the Air Raid Shelters at RAF Canage are
probably rare, since he has seen nothing like them in other areas of the
country. It will be interesting to see if he can convince English Heritage of
this. I do hope so. 27th March You will, I'm sure, be interested to know that Andrew Martindale, of English
Heritage, North West, who promised to contact me last week, has still not quite
managed to keep his promise - and we're just running our of this week. He mentioned that it would be a good idea if he
actually came out to RAF Cranage and walked the area with me, so he could see
what I am talking about. I enthusiastically agreed to this. I wonder why he
hasn't been in touch? Possibly
its because he's hoping that I might go away? Hardly likely. Over the past week or two I have been speaking to some really interesting
people, all of whom are giving me as much information as they know, about the
airfield; because they want to keep RAF Cranage in existence. What a pity
that none of them is an Archaeology Official. (those people who are paid to
keep our history safe?) Today has been taken up with making up letters to send out; to Liverpool,
Knowsley, St Helens, Wirral, and Sefton Borough Councils. Also to every
Councillor therein, who has an email. address. Liverpool and Merseyside was,
after all, the area which appreciated the benefit of RAF Cranage and 96 Squadron,
during the Liverpool Blitz in 1941, when there was no other Night Fighter
Station in the North West. Robin McNair and Victor Verity - the first from England, the second from New
Zealand - made their names over
Liverpool. McNair dropped the first German plane, after 96 Squadron was formed. Verity was
awarded the DFC for 8 'kills' during the Blitz. It was Squadron 96 which
defended Liverpool from the air. 24th March I have now contacted my Borough Councillor, Mr Mark Stocks, who promises
to help Also my County Councillor, Mr George Mainwaring, who is equally
enthusiastic. I am waiting to meet my MP Mr George Osborne. I have traded letters with Mr Jeremy Taylor, Chief Executive, of
Cheshire County Council. He has turned from hissing through his letters to being
patronising. I don't know which I prefer. Neither is pleasant. I am approaching RAFA (Northwich and Sale), and The Royal British
Legion, (several around this area), but only locally, so far. Also The Three Greyhounds - the local pub for RAF Cranage, when it was
in operation - has taken information leaflets to put out - with great alacrity 22nd March The letter - below - was sent today, to Dr Schofield and to all the people
mentioned at the end: Dear Dr Schofield, Re RAF Cranage
100 years of Powered Flight Exhibition
By invitation The History of RAF
Cranage exhibition will form part of this event.
Come and see for yourself why RAF Cranage should be saved.
banned from Knutsford and Sandbach Libraries.
FENCE-SITTERS' LETTERS
MY REPLIES TO
LETTERS FROM CHESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
The first
Exhibition of
The
History of RAF Cranage went
very well.
It was held at Byley Village Hall on Friday 16th May and Sunday 18th
May.
Did you miss it?
I sent out emails.
If you didn't get yours, please let me
know.
And I'll make sure you're added to the list next time.
I'm currently looking for other venues.
Liverpool and Manchester are decidedly interesting options. As is Middlewich. I
am also looking for venues in the other Boroughs which were defended out of the
small airfield that was RAF
Cranage, by 96 Squadron, during the Blitz.
Watch this
space..and I'll let you know.
Mr Jeremy Taylor, Chief Executive, Cheshire County Council.
Mr Bert Grange, Council Leader, Cheshire County Council.
Mr George Osborne, MP for Tatton.
Surely our history counts for more than this?
Clwyd Aviation Group - Monday, 31st March.
Wirral Aviation Group - Sunday 6th April
Royal Aviation Society, Chester - Wednesday, 9th
April
All with positive results.
*********************
Dr John Schofield, Head of Military Programmes, English
Heritage,
23 Saville Row London. W1S 2ET
Further to your letter of 19th February, I have now had the opportunity to speak to Mr Adrian Tindall, County Archaeologist for Cheshire, to Mr David Heyes, Conservation Officer for Vale Royal Borough Council ..and finally to Mr Andrew Martindale, of English Heritage NW.
To clear their conversations first.
Adrian Tindall (see letter enclosed) states that he is not interested in giving RAF Cranage ‘Conservation Area’ status. He speaks of his’ watching brief’, whilst not realising that two very large buildings have been removed from this site, during this ‘eyes-open’ period. He sits firmly on the fence, which is where I expected him to sit, since he inhabits the same Planning Department as the Planning Officer who is extremely keen to put a Gas Processing Plant on this site. He speaks of ‘individual listing’ for some buildings on the site, which he says needs to be done by Vale Royal Borough Council. What exactly does he think that will do?
On the other hand, Vale Royal Borough Council Conservation Officer, David Hayes, has stated, during a long conversation, that he couldn’t possibly do anything about this site, since the County overrides anything he might shift himself to do.
Am finally assured by Andrew Martindale of English Heritage (NW) that he will begin to look at the problem, when you send him the information. And this is after one month, during which time the rest of the site could very well have been bulldozed. Is that the idea? English Heritage, has already agreed the general importance of the remains at RAF Cranage, by scheduling the individual buildings which are now scheduled. However, by scheduling them in splendid isolation it loses, completely, the context of the buildings and the overall site. It would be as well to schedule a lollipop in an ocean. A complete waste of time.
It is one thing to schedule only a castle keep, if the rest of the castle has already disappeared over hundreds of years. But in this case, a great deal remains, both on the site and in the surrounding village.
I understand that, so far, Airfield Air Raid Shelters are not being scheduled. Did they not contribute to the overall Defence of Britain? Without the Air Raid Shelters, who would be left to service the planes; who would take over the pillboxes once the men inside them were exhausted - or killed; how could the airfield have been defended, beyond the first few hours, if there were no people alive to do it? A strange form of defence this. And remarkably finite.
The fact that other Air Raid Shelters are not yet scheduled does not mean that the remains of RAF Cranage should not be scheduled. Would it be better to consider scheduling once they have all gone? Perhaps, should one shelter remain, it could be scheduled in splendid isolation, which would be about as useful as the scheduling already done on this site.
I enclose copies of letters from The Chief Executives of both Congleton and Vale Royal Borough Councils and would point out that there is a great deal of interest in this site, by local people, County, Borough and Local Councillors and many ex-servicemen and women.
As we move into yet another war they all feel that we do not value people who give their lives for our safety. Old people still alive, from the 2nd World War did - and still do - feel marginallised.
In respect of the content of your letter. You state that ‘Scheduling therefore lends itself to ruined structures and field monuments, and specialised buildings for which any adaptive re-use would be damaging to the building’s form; the buildings would cease to be legible in terms of their original purpose’. That is precisely the position which we have at RAF Cranage. In your own terms, this site should be scheduled
You speak of ‘a few additional sites where the defensive perimeter survives comparatively well, and its in that capacity that defence structures at Cranage have been scheduled as nationally important components of the wider site’. As I have already argued - above - without the Air Raid Shelters and the ancillary buildings, precious little defence would have been possible.
The site itself comprises the base structures of the whole built site, plus a number of ruined structures, plus around 14 Air Raid Shelters in quite good condition. The main runways area has reverted to agriculture - so looks very similar to the way it looked in use. The already scheduled buildings are all across the fields from the main ‘built area’ of the site. This area is described as ‘scrubland’, worthless, and as ‘urban’ landscape. It would, in any case take a lot of money to clear it for resumption of agriculture, That’s why it has not been done so far. Will you wait until someone comes up with the money and clears it, before giving it protection?
The fact that you have refused to give even ‘emergency scheduling’ to this site, leaves it extremely vulnerable to destruction; more especially since it is pretty obvious that the Officers of the County Council have no intention of safeguarding it.
As to ‘interpreting and understanding military aviation in England.’ as you put it,; what better way to do it? This site had a vast number of uses, during its very short life. It was the only Night-Fighter station in the north west during the Blitz over Liverpool. A large number of different units came through here. A large number of different types of planes flew from here. Early radar was developed from here. A section of the US 3rd Army took part in Operation Overlord, following their time here, with General Patton. How much interpretation and understanding is needed? This tiny base was home to people from across the world. It was used to re-home British people from right across the Empire. It was used for the resettlement of refugees from middle Europe. It’s buildings were never dispersed, as was the common practice, for safety. Instead they sat here, all together in a small corner of the airfield - and this can still be seen, and therefore readily explained, to this day. But will it still be here tomorrow?
This site needs emergency protection now. Not when it is gone.
It contains a history which has a world importance.
The officers of County Council, have no interest in keeping it. The people of Cheshire have a great interest in keeping it. From across the world, and particularly from the USA, there is interest in keeping it. Its all very well for us to enthuse about how beautifully foreigners keep British memories alive and countable. What about here? What are we prepared to do with our own important history?
I ask you to at least put an Emergency Scheduling on this site.
Yours sincerely,
Charlotte Peters Rock
ccs Tessa Jowell, Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Dr Margaret Nieke, English Heritage
Mr Herbert Grange, Leader, Cheshire County Council
Ms Anne Bingham-Holmes, Chief Executive, Vale Royal Borough Council
Mr Peter Cooper, Chief Executive, Congleton Borough Council
Mr George Osborne, MP for Tatton
encs - as stated
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