Published 11 January 2001

the South Foreland that fateful night in 1940 when 2 parachute mines caused so much grief and damage to property. Ron was 20.

The bombs hit Beach Street and the junction of Folly Road and Rossendale Road destroying or partly destroying 56 houses and other buildings and leaving
YOUNGSTERS digging for the war effort in residential home for war evacuees at Wren's Warren, in the Ashdown Forest area, during the Second World War. See story, above left and second picture below.
BELOW: More evacuees in the dining room of Wren's Warren.
words by local author Roy Humphreys in his book “Target Folkestone" which was published in 1990 by Meresborough Books, the publishers of the popular monthly magazine Bygone Kent.

Sally Russell tells me that Mrs Pat Early is still alive and will be 80 this year.

Incidentally, I wrote that Peter Russell’s family once had a public house known as the Ship, as well as the Providence Inn - but the Ship was in Sandgate and not Dymchurch, as I had thought.
a further 670 properties seriously damaged and 215 slightly damaged.

Several people had to be dug out of the rubble of their homes, while the bodies of others could not be reached for some time for fear that buildings would collapse on top of rescuers.

-witness
Eye-
George Medal holder PC Spain saw the raiding plane just before the mines were dropped and suffered from concussion when they went off with a terrific explosion.

The scene is captured in
SOUTH Foreland hotel site after the explosion.
Miracle?
SALLY Russell, wife of Peter Russell, of Postling, who told me of their family links with Folkestone's South Foreland hotel and Sandgate's Providence Inn, showed me the scene of devastation, below, after a parachute mine wrecked the South Foreland and nearby property, leaving 14 dead and 60 people injured, on November 18, 1940.
Miraculously, both her grandparents, licensees Frank and Clara Jordan, survived the explosion, along1 with their youngest daughter Pat, who later became Mrs Pat Early.

She married Fred Early, who was the elder brother of Ronald Early, who died in the cellar of
HAVE you any memories of Wren's Warren, Chuck Hatch, near Hartfield, in the Ashdown Forest area?

Millwood Designer Homes is appealing for information from anyone with links to the past of this property and would love to hear from them. They can be contacted on 01732 460099.

The house builders have recently obtained planning consent to build seven luxury, detached homes in a scheme designed to "sympathetically enhance" the beautiful area which lies within the Ancient Pale of Ashdown Forest.

Wren's Warren appears on a 1693 map of the area as Comdene Lodge, which was originally owned by a King's Keeper in the Middle Ages.

During the 18th Century it was renamed Wren's Warren and formed part of Lord Buckhurst's estate until the early 1970s, when the freehold passed to John and June Good who placed the stewardship of the property with Millwood's.

The property has been used for a variety of purposes in the past 60 years; a residential school for evacuees, a displaced persons' camp, turkey farm, a garage, caravan store, haulage depot and kennels.

Millwood plans to organise a visit to Wren's Warren for interested parties.

Millwood Homes have several old pictures of the site in use as Wren's Warren, including the photo, left, with possibly war evacuees in the gardens.
Were you evacuee at Wren’s Warren?
 

Heroism of local trooper who saved Boer War pal «| Q/\»f CONSPICUOUS gallantry by a local JL*7l/.L man. Trooper Claude Fergusson in an East Kent Yeomanry Company in 5uulh Africa during the Boer War was described at a Town Council meeting. Col Hamilton, a member of the Council, said his nephew was on mounted escort duty at Frankfort when the men were attacked by the Boers. Fergusson was covering the retirement of troops when he spotted a member of the West Kent Mounted Infantry lying, dismounted, 500 yards away. But, although under constant fire, he went to his rescue and brought him back to safety. “Many a man has won the Victoria Cross for less (.anspicuous and chivalrous daring than this," commented the Herald report. Fergusson made no mention of the incident in letters to relatives, only to a friend. But the man he rescued reported his bravery to a senior officer and Fergusson was complimented at a special regimental parade and commended to the commanding general in Africa. A model of one of the ancient Cinque Ports ships was to figure on the casket when the Freedom of Hythe was presented to local hero Major-General Ian Hamilton CB. DSO. on return from the Boer War.

Cheerful Sparrows bring joy to1,400 poor children *1 QOC OVER 1.400 children, mainly from the poor quarters of the town, were entertained by the Cheerful Sparrows with a New Year Treat at the Drill Halls. Sheilons Street. A touching scene at the start saw all the children stand aside to make way for a "Tiny Tim” - a young child on crutches, who was lifted first into the hall by a burly policeman. Decorations were augmented with flags and bunting from a contingent of HM Coastguards from Sandgate. There was a “bombardment" of crackers, lots of food, music provided by the Radnor Orchestra and bags were provided for the children to take home gifts of fruit, sweets and a well known comic provided by a national newspaper. A surprise item was the arrival of the scarlet coated drum and fife band of the 1st Bn King's Own Rcgt to play popular numbers. Consumed were 17 gallons of milk. 50lbs of butter, 66lbs of sugar. 24lbs of tea, 1.400 each of sausage roils, mince pies, huffkins, fancy pastries, Chelsea buns, oranges, apples and quarter pound bags of sweets given by local tradesmen. A flashlight photo by Haiksworth Wheeler of some of the children and helpers was printed by the Herald.

£12,400 compensation for gutted Victoria Pier A QF(| THE WAR Department agreed to a payment of £12,400 in compensation In respect of the destruction of the pavilion of the old Victoria Pier by fire in 1945. The money is believed to have been used to pay off debts of the former owners, the Folkestone Pier and Lift Co. Shoppers must have wondered if it was April 1 and not January, when they were confronted by the sight of a full grown hare being chased from the direction of Seabrook along the length of Sandgate High Street, passing by all the shoppers and disappearing, out of sight, up Sandgate Hill -chased not by hounds, but a solitary motorist! Having negotiated the hill the hare is presumed to have made good Its escape across the nearest patch of grass! One of the most popular personalities in the swimming world, Sam Rockett, who swam the Channel in 1950 was appointed Training Supervisor for the Festival of Britain Daily Mail Cross-Channel race in 1951. A Dorset man, he resigned his foreman's job in an ICI plastics factory to take up the post as assistant manager at Folkestone Bathing Pool, from August 1st. It was said that more than 30 applications for race entry forms had been received by the Daily Mail and that 20 world-famous swimmers would compete in the Channel race.

Calls for tougher penalties for oil pollution in channel «f PRESSURE was mounting for something to JmH I O be done about shifting the cost of clearing up pollution in the Channel and on the beaches from local ratepayers to the oil companies responsible. And Shepway Councillor Herbert Johnson backed a strong protest made by his wife, County Councillor Mildred Johnson, who was calling for oil companies to pay a levy into an anti-pollution pool, to meet the costs. A Works Committee plan to write to the Association of District Councils and other bodies, urging them to get the Government to totally reimburse local authorities, did not go far enough, he felt. The move failed, partly because it was reported it had been impossible to prove where the most recent oil spillage at Folkestone had come from. Friends and fellow traders mourned the passing at 75 of former Folkestone greengrocer George Edward Stokes. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and it was while he was home on his first leave that a bomb destroyed the family's large greengrocery store in Tontine Street in a raid that killed more than 60 people, including one of his uncles, while his father was so badly injured that he died a year later. Folkestone Lions Club had its sights set on its most ambitious project ever, a day centre-luncheon club for the town's elderly, similar to 'pop-ins' in Ashfnrd. Dover and Deal, but they were having difficulty obtaining a site.