We have embarked on various projects which have involved us delivering talks on Peak District history and 'reminiscence' sessions for residents of local residential care homes. Through our reminiscence activities, we have created bespoke reminiscence packs for interested residents, which draw on local historical sources gathered through careful archival research, tailored to each resident (including copies of old photographs, street/trade directories, maps and newspaper articles, etc. relating to areas where they grew up and places, family members and people they used to know). Such reminiscence packs have served as springboards for reminiscence and the exchange of stories and have enabled us to gather memories and oral histories from residents, helping us to capture important elements of the Peak District’s remembered past before they disappear forever. Such activities have been richly rewarding and it has been a real privilege for us to have had access to so many remarkable long, living memories and moving stories, some stretching back almost a century.
Examples of some of our reminiscence and oral history work and can be found below, which will hopefully serve as a reminder of how residential care homes are treasure troves of memory and rich living local history. The participants have provided us with wonderful personal windows into life in the locality in the past and, through them, the names in historical records such as the ‘1939 register’ and directories of Derbyshire from the 1930s/1940s have come to life, bringing personality and colour to archives, enhancing our perception of the past and our appreciation of the present. When we learn about the extraordinary period of technological and social change these individuals have lived through, and the fascinating stories they can share of the turbulent times of the Second World War and beyond, it makes us realize how lucky we are to live with the luxuries we do today.
Examples of some of our reminiscence and oral history work and can be found below, which will hopefully serve as a reminder of how residential care homes are treasure troves of memory and rich living local history. The participants have provided us with wonderful personal windows into life in the locality in the past and, through them, the names in historical records such as the ‘1939 register’ and directories of Derbyshire from the 1930s/1940s have come to life, bringing personality and colour to archives, enhancing our perception of the past and our appreciation of the present. When we learn about the extraordinary period of technological and social change these individuals have lived through, and the fascinating stories they can share of the turbulent times of the Second World War and beyond, it makes us realize how lucky we are to live with the luxuries we do today.
Peak Profile (1): Nellie Blundell (nee Thorpe) of Ashford-in-the-Water
Nellie Blundell was born and brought up in the Derbyshire Peak District village of Ashford-in-the-Water. She was born in April 1922, the youngest of 10 children of Francis Thorpe (1871-1949), known as Frank, and his wife Jane (nee Spencer) (1877-1956). Frank and Jane were married on 15 May 1899 at St Paul’s Church in Derby. Frank worked as a railway ‘platelayer’. With so many mouths to feed, Jane supplemented the household income with occasional cooking and cleaning duties at pubs in Ashford and Bakewell and also for the Cavendish Family (the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire) who lived at the grand Churchdale Hall in the village.
[Pictured above: Thorpe Family of Castlegate, Ashford, c. 1923 with Nellie the baby in both photographs]
Nellie’s recollections of her childhood in Ashford-in-the-Water help to evoke a sense of what it was like to grow up in a small Peak District village in the interwar years (in 1920s and 1930s). Nellie’s memories are complimented by contemporary local newspaper articles about village life and events (and other historical documents such as local trade directories from the period) which we have researched through our reminiscence work.
Living conditions for Nellie as a child were basic. The Thorpe family home in Ashford was a modest “two up two down” cottage at Castlegate. The family cottage did not get electric lights until c. 1930 but, even then, the upstairs rooms continued to be lit solely by paraffin lamps and candles. The wash house was located in a separate building in the back yard alongside a dry earth ‘privy’ which had to be coated with lime after use.
The family kept their own chickens and pigs in the ‘tip field’ at the bottom of Sheldon Vale and Nellie recalls how it was quite a walk for her, as a child, to go to feed the animals and retrieve the eggs laid by the chickens. Nellie also recalls fetching flour and animal feed (for the family’s chickens and pigs) from a local flour mill kept by Joseph Flewitt and Sons, farmers, which the family would cart back home in a wheelbarrow! The family also used the same wheelbarrow to bring back loaves of bread from the bake-house in Fennel Street kept by Mr John Marsden. Milk was provided by the Daybell family (farmers) who delivered it around the village in pony-driven trap. Another memory Nellie has is of a local shopkeeper Mr Curtis driving around the village in a mobile van selling paraffin (for the villagers’ lamps) and other hardware.
Amongst other local people in the village, Nellie remembers buying sweets from a shop kept by Miss Florence May Skidmore (who came from Longstone). Another local shopkeeper was John Revel Widdowson who Nellie recalls had a big family. She also remembers visiting a peripatetic dentist who would see patients at Grange Cottage which was the home of two spinster sisters the Misses Grover (Kate and Margaret) - two ‘lovely ladies’ in Nellie’s words. Nellie also remembers singing in the church choir (at Ashford Parish Church) as a child and having singing lessons (and elocution lessons) with a Miss Jessie Barlow who came over from Manchester to teach the children (with the lessons held at Miss Coe’s house).
Living conditions for Nellie as a child were basic. The Thorpe family home in Ashford was a modest “two up two down” cottage at Castlegate. The family cottage did not get electric lights until c. 1930 but, even then, the upstairs rooms continued to be lit solely by paraffin lamps and candles. The wash house was located in a separate building in the back yard alongside a dry earth ‘privy’ which had to be coated with lime after use.
The family kept their own chickens and pigs in the ‘tip field’ at the bottom of Sheldon Vale and Nellie recalls how it was quite a walk for her, as a child, to go to feed the animals and retrieve the eggs laid by the chickens. Nellie also recalls fetching flour and animal feed (for the family’s chickens and pigs) from a local flour mill kept by Joseph Flewitt and Sons, farmers, which the family would cart back home in a wheelbarrow! The family also used the same wheelbarrow to bring back loaves of bread from the bake-house in Fennel Street kept by Mr John Marsden. Milk was provided by the Daybell family (farmers) who delivered it around the village in pony-driven trap. Another memory Nellie has is of a local shopkeeper Mr Curtis driving around the village in a mobile van selling paraffin (for the villagers’ lamps) and other hardware.
Amongst other local people in the village, Nellie remembers buying sweets from a shop kept by Miss Florence May Skidmore (who came from Longstone). Another local shopkeeper was John Revel Widdowson who Nellie recalls had a big family. She also remembers visiting a peripatetic dentist who would see patients at Grange Cottage which was the home of two spinster sisters the Misses Grover (Kate and Margaret) - two ‘lovely ladies’ in Nellie’s words. Nellie also remembers singing in the church choir (at Ashford Parish Church) as a child and having singing lessons (and elocution lessons) with a Miss Jessie Barlow who came over from Manchester to teach the children (with the lessons held at Miss Coe’s house).
[Pictured above: Extract from Derbyshire Directory 1940 showing some of the residents of Ashford-in-the-Water]
Working conditions for many people in the area were dangerous and serious injury and even death at work were not uncommon. One of Nellie’s older brothers Frank Blundell (born 1917) who worked as a quarryman at a local limestone quarry lost his leg in an accident at work. Nellie also recalls how another villager Victor Barnes (who lived with his family at the ‘Red House’ on Ashford Lane) was killed in a mining accident. Local newspaper reports reveal how Victor was aged just 19 when he was ‘buried alive’ along with two other young miners at Mill Close Lead Mine in Darley Dale on 10 May 1938 when a ‘slime tip’ under which they were working collapsed.
Nellie’s mother Jane Thorpe loved to cook and would often help out with cooking duties when local events were held at the grand local houses of Ashford Hall, Churchdale Hall and sometimes even at Chatsworth House. Nellie recalls how ‘pancake day’ was a particularly celebrated event at her house when Jane would invite over friends and neighbours (including the local butcher, baker, milkman etc.) to partake in the pancakes she made. If there was snow on the ground outside, Jane would put handfuls of clean snow in the first pancake mixture to lighten it!
Nellie remembers her mother as a kindly woman who was always willing to help others. On a couple of occasions Jane even took responsibility for ‘laying out’ dead bodies found drowned in the River Wye which ran through the village. Another interesting memory Nellie has is how tramps would often pas the family home at Castlegate on their weary way to Bakewell Union Workhouse (now Newholme Hospital) and how her mother Jane would take pity on them and give them mashed tea and tit-bits as refreshments.
During the 1920s and 1930s, there was an annual Ashford Fair held at the Ashford Hall on Whitsuntide and also regular fetes at Ashford Hall (home of the Hon. Major G. Evan Baillie and his wife Lady Maud) held on behalf of the Bakewell Branch of the British Legion when the beautiful grounds of the hall (replete with flowering azaleas sand herbaceous plants set along the banks of the River Wye) were thrown open to the public. At the village fair and fetes, there would be various stalls, a coconut shy, a roundabout, gymnastic displays, ‘buried treasure’ competitions, sack races, skipping races and sprint races, brass band recitals, etc. In the evening, ‘whist drive’ competitions and dances were held in Ashford War Memorial Institute.
Nellie’s mother Jane Thorpe loved to cook and would often help out with cooking duties when local events were held at the grand local houses of Ashford Hall, Churchdale Hall and sometimes even at Chatsworth House. Nellie recalls how ‘pancake day’ was a particularly celebrated event at her house when Jane would invite over friends and neighbours (including the local butcher, baker, milkman etc.) to partake in the pancakes she made. If there was snow on the ground outside, Jane would put handfuls of clean snow in the first pancake mixture to lighten it!
Nellie remembers her mother as a kindly woman who was always willing to help others. On a couple of occasions Jane even took responsibility for ‘laying out’ dead bodies found drowned in the River Wye which ran through the village. Another interesting memory Nellie has is how tramps would often pas the family home at Castlegate on their weary way to Bakewell Union Workhouse (now Newholme Hospital) and how her mother Jane would take pity on them and give them mashed tea and tit-bits as refreshments.
During the 1920s and 1930s, there was an annual Ashford Fair held at the Ashford Hall on Whitsuntide and also regular fetes at Ashford Hall (home of the Hon. Major G. Evan Baillie and his wife Lady Maud) held on behalf of the Bakewell Branch of the British Legion when the beautiful grounds of the hall (replete with flowering azaleas sand herbaceous plants set along the banks of the River Wye) were thrown open to the public. At the village fair and fetes, there would be various stalls, a coconut shy, a roundabout, gymnastic displays, ‘buried treasure’ competitions, sack races, skipping races and sprint races, brass band recitals, etc. In the evening, ‘whist drive’ competitions and dances were held in Ashford War Memorial Institute.
[Pictured above: Photographs from The Derbyshire Times' 27 May 1933 and 12 July 1935, showing scenes from the Ashford Fete held at Ashford Hall held on behalf of the Bakewell Branch of the British Legion]
Amongst various fond memories of her childhood in Ashford, Nellie remembers playing at the recreation ground in the village, pitching up tents and making pretend houses and (in the winter) skating on the frozen lake at another grand country house in the neighbourhood Thornbridge Hall. At the time, Thornbridge Hall was owned by a respected wealthy businessman Charles Boot JP (1874-1945) who ran a profitable civil engineering / house building business. Nellie recalls lavish parties hosted by the Boots at Thornbridge Hall and even getting to explore the ‘tunnels’ in the cellars under the hall. Charles Boot’s daughter Mary Boot ran the Girl Guides in the village (of which Nellie was a member) and Nellie and her fellow guides were invited to Mary's wedding.
The Thorpe family played an active role in public life in the village, always willing to help out with various village social events. Nellie’s father Frank and her brothers were members of the ‘Buffs’ (the Indefatigable Order of Buffaloes) a Friendly Society who would meet weekly in the Devonshire Clubroom (at the Devonshire Arms Pub) whilst Nellie’s mother Jane was a member of the Ashford Women’s Society. Nellie remembers how another relative Ida Thorpe (nee Saunders who married Nellie’s cousin George in 1932) was a particularly well-known Ashford resident, who was always involved in organising local events and knowing everyone’s business!
The Belper News local newspaper dated 22 May 1936 (pictured below left), included a brief account of the marriage of one of Nellie’s sisters Elsie Thorpe to Herbert Hall (of Plantation Cottages, Tideswell) at Ashford Parish Church in which a young Nellie is described as one of the bridesmaids wearing ‘swagger suits of marina green with hats to tone’ and carrying ‘bouquets of white roses’. The wedding reception was held at Ashford War Memorial Institute.
The Thorpe family played an active role in public life in the village, always willing to help out with various village social events. Nellie’s father Frank and her brothers were members of the ‘Buffs’ (the Indefatigable Order of Buffaloes) a Friendly Society who would meet weekly in the Devonshire Clubroom (at the Devonshire Arms Pub) whilst Nellie’s mother Jane was a member of the Ashford Women’s Society. Nellie remembers how another relative Ida Thorpe (nee Saunders who married Nellie’s cousin George in 1932) was a particularly well-known Ashford resident, who was always involved in organising local events and knowing everyone’s business!
The Belper News local newspaper dated 22 May 1936 (pictured below left), included a brief account of the marriage of one of Nellie’s sisters Elsie Thorpe to Herbert Hall (of Plantation Cottages, Tideswell) at Ashford Parish Church in which a young Nellie is described as one of the bridesmaids wearing ‘swagger suits of marina green with hats to tone’ and carrying ‘bouquets of white roses’. The wedding reception was held at Ashford War Memorial Institute.
In May 1948, Nellie’s mother Jane’s employment with the Cavendish Family led to her attending (along with other Chatsworth Estate employees who worked for the Cavendish Family/Duke of Devonshire) the funeral at Edensor of Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, daughter-in-law of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire who was killed in an air crash in Southern France. The American-born Marchioness was the daughter of Joseph Kennedy (former US ambassador in London) and Rose Kennedy and was the sister of future US President John F. Kennedy. Mrs Thorpe’s name appears alongside distinguished guests reported as being amongst the mourners at the funeral in a local newspaper report in the Derby Daily Telegraph, 21 May 1948 (an extract from which is pictured above right showing Joseph Kennedy with the Duchess of Devonshire at the funeral).
During the Second World War, compelled by a sense of patriotic duty, Nellie joined the Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRENS) in February 1943 and was posted to Rosneath on the west coast of Scotland where she served as a cook (in a small team of 5 sometimes having to cater for up to 600 sailors!). The Second World War led Nellie to meet her husband Geoffrey Blundell (who was also serving in forces) following a chance meeting at a bus stop in Taddington (a neighbouring village to Ashford). During the war Geoffrey (who was from Liverpool) served as a motor electrician with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and met Nellie when his unit was posted to Taddington to help rig up searchlights there. Nellie and Geoffrey were married in Ashford-in-the-Water Church (Holy Trinity) on 28 August 1943 but both returned to their war service duties after their marriage so were kept apart for most of the remaining war years. Indeed, the couple were not properly reunited until after the birth of their first child Thomas in 1947. When his son was born, Geoffrey was still on army duty and was based overseas in Germany having been posted there as part of post-war clean-up operations.
During the Second World War, compelled by a sense of patriotic duty, Nellie joined the Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRENS) in February 1943 and was posted to Rosneath on the west coast of Scotland where she served as a cook (in a small team of 5 sometimes having to cater for up to 600 sailors!). The Second World War led Nellie to meet her husband Geoffrey Blundell (who was also serving in forces) following a chance meeting at a bus stop in Taddington (a neighbouring village to Ashford). During the war Geoffrey (who was from Liverpool) served as a motor electrician with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and met Nellie when his unit was posted to Taddington to help rig up searchlights there. Nellie and Geoffrey were married in Ashford-in-the-Water Church (Holy Trinity) on 28 August 1943 but both returned to their war service duties after their marriage so were kept apart for most of the remaining war years. Indeed, the couple were not properly reunited until after the birth of their first child Thomas in 1947. When his son was born, Geoffrey was still on army duty and was based overseas in Germany having been posted there as part of post-war clean-up operations.
[Pictured above: (Left) Geoffrey and Nellies Blundell pictured in their Second World War services uniforms, c. 1943; (Right) Second World War Telegram sent to Wren Nellie Blundell from husband Geoffrey less than a month after their wedding, September 1943]
After Geoffrey’s return to England, the couple eventually settled in Baslow (a neighbouring parish to Nellie’s home village of Ashford-in-the-Water which would always remain close to her heart). Drawing on his motor mechanic expertise, Geoffrey found a job working for Kennings and, although not a native of Derbyshire, entered into the spirit of village life, becoming a respected member of the Baslow Association for the Prosecution of Felons. In addition to their son Thomas, the couple later had two daughters Jane and Ann.
Click on the audio-file below to hear Nellie discussing some of her memories of Ashford-in-the-Water. The interview was conducted at Bakewell Cottage Nursing Home on 1 April 2016.
Click on the audio-file below to hear Nellie discussing some of her memories of Ashford-in-the-Water. The interview was conducted at Bakewell Cottage Nursing Home on 1 April 2016.
Peak Profile (2): Les Bradwell of Bradwell
Leslie Bradwell (known as Les), who shares his surname with the name of his home village, was born in Bradwell in July 1923, the third of four children of Thomas Frost Bradwell (1890 - 1970), a local butcher and grocer, and his wife Louisa (1886 - 1958) who worked at Bamford Cotton Mill. Les had an older sister Jessie (1919 - 1984) and two brothers Cyril (1922 - 1991) and Stanley (born 1926).
[Pictured above: The Bradwell children of Towngate, Bradwell, (Jessie, Cyril, Leslie and Stanley), c. 1928]
The family butcher’s shop at the top of Towngate, Bradwell was previously run by Les’ grandfather Spencer Joshua Bradwell (1844 - 1919) and before him Les’ great grandfather Thomas Bradwell [senior] (1809 -1886) and prior to that it had been carried on by at least four successive generations of the family according to local newspaper reports. The last of the Bradwells to run the butcher’s shop was Les’ older sister Jessie who became in Les’ words “as good a butcher” as their father. For generations, alongside running the family butcher’s shop, the Bradwell family also ran the Old Bulls Head pub directly across the road. Les recalls with a wry smile how the older members of his family (who were all heavily involved with Wesleyan Methodism in the village) sought to reconcile the unlikely combination of Wesleyan Methodist lay preaching with running a pub! Both the Bradwell’s butcher’s shop and the Old Bulls Head are no longer open for business but the buildings still stand (as private houses with the Old Bulls Head also now a hairdressers) and have been immortalised in a woodcut made by Les (pictured below) showing the top of Towngate in Bradwell with the family butcher’s shop on the right and the Old Bull’s Head opposite on the left.
[Pictured above: (left) Spencer Joshua Bradwell and his wife Nancy (and unknown female) outside the family grocer's/butcher's shop in Towngate Bradwell c1880; (right) Woodcut by Les Bradwell showing Towngate, Bradwell with the old family butcher’s shop nearest right and the Old Bulls Head on the left opposite]
[Pictured above: Local newspaper obituary for Spencer Joshua Bradwell (1844-1919) of Towngate, Bradwell, respected local grocer and butcher (and Les Bradwell's grandfather), printed in the Belper News, 2 January 1920]
In addition to their local business concerns (running both pub and butcher’s shop), Les’ family had prominent roles in public life in Bradwell. Local newspaper reports from the Derbyshire Times from the 1920s and 1930s show how Les’ father Thomas Frost Bradwell served on the committees of the Bradwell Hospital Association and the Bradwell Wesley Guild, presided over meetings of the Bradwell Band of Hope and served as co-superintendent of the Methodist schoolroom in the village. Les’ mother Louisa served on the committee of the local ‘Women’s Own’ Group (affiliated to the Bradwell Methodist Chapel) and was treasurer of the Bradwell Child Welfare Centre. Les’ sister Jessie was a frequent pianist at village social events and, as children growing up in the 1920s and 1930s, Les and his siblings were regular collectors on ‘Daisy Day’ where they went around the neighbourhood collecting money for charity (to support the National Children’s Home and Orphanage) along with other local children (including the Topley, Nuttall, Garton, Roberts, Dakin and Andrew families). The organizer of Daisy Day was Miss Nuttall.
Thomas Frost Bradwell also volunteered as a ‘special constable’ where he worked all over the valley and Les recalls how his father would cart off prisoners to lock-up cells at Castleton (along with another neighbour Cyril Evans who was the 'special sergeant'). One of Les’ uncles Stanley Bradwell (1894 - 1970) was a particularly highly esteemed police officer from the village who served with distinction with the Sherwood Foresters during the First World War and was awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Cross for gallantry before becoming a police inspector and later police superintendent in Derby. Another of Les’ uncles Spencer Hedley Bradwell (1892 - 1976) married Nellie Hall (1898 - 1979) whose family ran a confectionary and ice cream shop in Bradwell (at Bridge End, Bridge Street) and it was through their marriage in 1930 that the famous ‘Bradwell Ice Cream’ business (still flourishing in the village today) acquired its name.
Thomas Frost Bradwell also volunteered as a ‘special constable’ where he worked all over the valley and Les recalls how his father would cart off prisoners to lock-up cells at Castleton (along with another neighbour Cyril Evans who was the 'special sergeant'). One of Les’ uncles Stanley Bradwell (1894 - 1970) was a particularly highly esteemed police officer from the village who served with distinction with the Sherwood Foresters during the First World War and was awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Cross for gallantry before becoming a police inspector and later police superintendent in Derby. Another of Les’ uncles Spencer Hedley Bradwell (1892 - 1976) married Nellie Hall (1898 - 1979) whose family ran a confectionary and ice cream shop in Bradwell (at Bridge End, Bridge Street) and it was through their marriage in 1930 that the famous ‘Bradwell Ice Cream’ business (still flourishing in the village today) acquired its name.
[Pictured above: (left) Bradwell Police Special Constabulary - Thomas Bradwell (Special Constable and Les Bradwell's father), PC Applegate (Village Bobby), Cyril Evans (Special Sergeant) and Mr Bromage, c.1940s; (right) Second Lieutenant Stanley Bradwell awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal 1916 and Military Cross 1918 for his First World War service]
Amongst other locals Les remembers in Bradwell in the pre-Second World War years, the Tanfield family were a well-known musical family in the village. Mr H. V. Tanfield was the choirmaster and Lionel Tanfield was the church organist whilst Miss Norah Tanfield (like Les’ sister Jessie) would often perform duties as a pianist at local events (in particular during musical recitals for the Bradwell Band of Hope). Les recalls how Edwin Roberts had baker’s shop at bottom of the road and made the ‘best buns’. Another neighbour, the aptly named Ben Shirt (who worked as a tailor as well as boot dealer, born 1871), served as head ARP warden during the Second World War (a reminder of how such Civil Defence roles were also assigned in rural villages such as Bradwell in the war).
Les' memories of his childhood in Bradwell paint a vivid picture of a village with a wonderful tight-knit community spirit centred around the family and neighbourly goodwill, and charitable and social events connected with the old Wesleyan Chapel. The ‘barn service’ at the Bradwell Chapel was one of the chief events at Christmas time and, as Les recalls, would typically be concluded by the singing of “Peace o’er the World” which was known as "the Bradwell anthem". Another big event in the local calendar was the Harvest service in the Wesley Chapel, which included a special feature with the children singing “Bringing in the Sheaves” and entering the chapel with sickles, sheaves of corn and even a whole waggon of corn!
Les' memories of his childhood in Bradwell paint a vivid picture of a village with a wonderful tight-knit community spirit centred around the family and neighbourly goodwill, and charitable and social events connected with the old Wesleyan Chapel. The ‘barn service’ at the Bradwell Chapel was one of the chief events at Christmas time and, as Les recalls, would typically be concluded by the singing of “Peace o’er the World” which was known as "the Bradwell anthem". Another big event in the local calendar was the Harvest service in the Wesley Chapel, which included a special feature with the children singing “Bringing in the Sheaves” and entering the chapel with sickles, sheaves of corn and even a whole waggon of corn!
[Pictured above: Derbyshire Times article on harvest services at the Wesley Chapel in Bradwell (which includes mention of Les' brother Cyril giving a recitation and Les' father Thomas Frost Bradwell presiding over the scholars' service and overseeing a charity event to raise money for the National Children's Home and Orphanage), 7 October 1933]
During the Second World War, Les joined the Royal Navy as a telegraphist (radio operator) in December 1941 (aged 18) whilst his older brother Cyril joined the Royal Artillery. When they were assigned to separate sections of the armed forces and posted to different countries, the brothers could never have foreseen how (almost two years later) they would meet up again over two thousand miles away in the most unlikely of settings and circumstances in the midst of the war.
After two months training at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness, Les was transferred to Glasgow where he and his fellow recruits were "packed like sardines" in a room in a tenement house in Hill Street (with barely 12 inches between each bed). He remembers the food being particularly awful: salted porridge cut with a knife each morning! Up in Scotland, Les received his Radio Operator Training at a Merchant Navy School and then from Glasgow he was sent to Ayre to undergo further training in radio technology. After “passing out” Les was transferred to the Main Signal School at Petersfield in Portsmouth to await draft. Les was assigned to join the Light Cruiser HMS Penelope in Portsmouth harbour. The ship had just returned from the USA having undergone extensive repairs, following damage sustained in action off the coast of Tripoli and later Malta.
After two months training at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness, Les was transferred to Glasgow where he and his fellow recruits were "packed like sardines" in a room in a tenement house in Hill Street (with barely 12 inches between each bed). He remembers the food being particularly awful: salted porridge cut with a knife each morning! Up in Scotland, Les received his Radio Operator Training at a Merchant Navy School and then from Glasgow he was sent to Ayre to undergo further training in radio technology. After “passing out” Les was transferred to the Main Signal School at Petersfield in Portsmouth to await draft. Les was assigned to join the Light Cruiser HMS Penelope in Portsmouth harbour. The ship had just returned from the USA having undergone extensive repairs, following damage sustained in action off the coast of Tripoli and later Malta.
[Pictured above: (left) Les Bradwell aged 18 on enlisting in the Royal Navy, December 1941; (right) Les and some of the HMS Penelope crew in Gibraltar, Jan 1943]
[Pictured above: Les Bradwell's ship, the ill-fated HMS Penelope (which acquired the unfortunate nickname HMS Pepperpot), c. 1940]
In December 1942, Les sailed with the Penelope to Scapa Flow to undergo sea trials where his abiding memory is the frequency with which he and fellow recruits were sea sick whilst they tried to discover their sea legs! From there, they sailed to Glasgow and then on to Gibraltar in January 1943. They had to negotiate some 40 foot high waves in the Bay of Biscay (the worst weather in the region for some 40 years according to official records). Conditions were so bad according to Les that “some of us wished the damned boat would turn turtle or get torpedoed – and have done with the misery!”
In Gibraltar, by chance Les bumped into a “fellow Bradderite” Arthur Hallam (who lived at Hollowgate in Bradwell). Arthur Hallam, who Les remembers as “a rather eccentric chap”, greeted Les “like a long lost brother”. Hallam was out in Gibraltar at the time serving in the Naval Intelligence. From Gibraltar, the Penelope crossed the Mediterranean and docked in the port of Algiers, Algeria. On his first ever overseas trip Les was very impressed with Algiers: “There were beautiful buildings and some of the houses were out of this world - a world I never knew existed. The view from the hill across the harbour was magnificent”.
In Gibraltar, by chance Les bumped into a “fellow Bradderite” Arthur Hallam (who lived at Hollowgate in Bradwell). Arthur Hallam, who Les remembers as “a rather eccentric chap”, greeted Les “like a long lost brother”. Hallam was out in Gibraltar at the time serving in the Naval Intelligence. From Gibraltar, the Penelope crossed the Mediterranean and docked in the port of Algiers, Algeria. On his first ever overseas trip Les was very impressed with Algiers: “There were beautiful buildings and some of the houses were out of this world - a world I never knew existed. The view from the hill across the harbour was magnificent”.
[Pictured above: HMS Penelope ship-mates [L-R] Les Bradwell, John Kidd and Peter Kiff in Algiers, Algeria, 1942. Kidd (in the centre) was later killed in action on board the Penelope in February 1944].
In early June 1943, the Penelope took part in the bombardment of the Italian island of Pantelleria and was hit by enemy shore fire but was not seriously damaged. Les recalls how the precise place the shell where penetrated was 'the "heads" (toilets to the uninitiated) so good job nobody was on the throne!". When they were clearing the debris, Les remembers how they found a piece of shell casing with the date inscribed 1917 indicating how "the Italians had stored this bit of ammo for 26 years!" In the same month, the Penelope was also involved in an attack on another island Lampedusa, resulting in its surrender to the British forces. In July, the ship formed part of Force "H" and assisted in the assault on Sicily.
In September 1943, the Penelope was part of Force Q for Operation 'Avalanche' and took part in the bombardment of Salerno, Italy. In early October 1943, the Penelope sailed from Malta to Alexandria, Egypt, which became the ship's base in preparations for attacks on enemy targets in the Aegean Islands. Later that month, she sank 6 enemy landing craft, an ammunition ship and an armed trawler off the Greek island of Stampalia (Astypalaia). The Penelope was attacked by "Stuka" dive bombers whilst returning through Scarpanto Straits. The ship received a direct hit on the gunnery control position, killing the Commander (Second in Command) and a number of others. Les was on duty at the time in the main radio office and remembers "bombs exploding so close that bomb splinters were coming through the deck and the wardroom (next door to us) without exploding and penetrating the ship's bottom, fracturing a propeller shaft." During the attack, Les developed a severe recurrence of sand fly fever and the petty officer of the watch sent him to see the Medical Officer. Les recalls how how: "The M.O. gave me some tablets and told me to 'sling my hammock' in the recreation space and try to get some sleep. He didn't forewarn me that the rec. space was being used as a morgue! I had to step over bodies (wrapped in canvas bags) to reach the hooks to sling my hammock. As I lay in my hammock I realised that the canvas bundles on the deck contained men who had been alive no more than 30 minutes ago. I felt so sad and lonely. If that dud bomb had exploded, I would without doubt have been one of those sad bundles below me." Although badly damaged in the bombing, the Penelope was able to limp back to dock in Alexandria.
By November 1943, Les' brother Cyril was serving with his artillery unit in Palestine when he was struck down by fever and consigned to a hospital tent in the desert. By a quirk of fate, the Penelope (with Les on board) was put into port at Haifa off the north-west coast of Palestine at this same period so both brothers found themselves in the same Middle Eastern country at the same point in the war. Les managed to obtain a few days leave and resolved to try and visit his stricken brother even though this would entail a two day trek on foot alone through a hostile desert in an unknown land in the midst of war.
Through reminiscence work with Les, Peak in the Past project officer Tim Knebel stumbled upon a local newspaper report in the Derbyshire Times dated 24 March 1944 which included pictures of the two brothers and a brief account of how they were reunited so unexpectedly in Palestine (which occurred a few months previously). The account related how Les had 'hitchhiked' across the country to make the surprise visit to see Cyril in his convalescent camp and how the 'brothers spent some happy hours together'. On being presented with a copy of the Derbyshire Times article Les was delighted saying "This is wonderful! I only wish Cyril could be here to see it".
In September 1943, the Penelope was part of Force Q for Operation 'Avalanche' and took part in the bombardment of Salerno, Italy. In early October 1943, the Penelope sailed from Malta to Alexandria, Egypt, which became the ship's base in preparations for attacks on enemy targets in the Aegean Islands. Later that month, she sank 6 enemy landing craft, an ammunition ship and an armed trawler off the Greek island of Stampalia (Astypalaia). The Penelope was attacked by "Stuka" dive bombers whilst returning through Scarpanto Straits. The ship received a direct hit on the gunnery control position, killing the Commander (Second in Command) and a number of others. Les was on duty at the time in the main radio office and remembers "bombs exploding so close that bomb splinters were coming through the deck and the wardroom (next door to us) without exploding and penetrating the ship's bottom, fracturing a propeller shaft." During the attack, Les developed a severe recurrence of sand fly fever and the petty officer of the watch sent him to see the Medical Officer. Les recalls how how: "The M.O. gave me some tablets and told me to 'sling my hammock' in the recreation space and try to get some sleep. He didn't forewarn me that the rec. space was being used as a morgue! I had to step over bodies (wrapped in canvas bags) to reach the hooks to sling my hammock. As I lay in my hammock I realised that the canvas bundles on the deck contained men who had been alive no more than 30 minutes ago. I felt so sad and lonely. If that dud bomb had exploded, I would without doubt have been one of those sad bundles below me." Although badly damaged in the bombing, the Penelope was able to limp back to dock in Alexandria.
By November 1943, Les' brother Cyril was serving with his artillery unit in Palestine when he was struck down by fever and consigned to a hospital tent in the desert. By a quirk of fate, the Penelope (with Les on board) was put into port at Haifa off the north-west coast of Palestine at this same period so both brothers found themselves in the same Middle Eastern country at the same point in the war. Les managed to obtain a few days leave and resolved to try and visit his stricken brother even though this would entail a two day trek on foot alone through a hostile desert in an unknown land in the midst of war.
Through reminiscence work with Les, Peak in the Past project officer Tim Knebel stumbled upon a local newspaper report in the Derbyshire Times dated 24 March 1944 which included pictures of the two brothers and a brief account of how they were reunited so unexpectedly in Palestine (which occurred a few months previously). The account related how Les had 'hitchhiked' across the country to make the surprise visit to see Cyril in his convalescent camp and how the 'brothers spent some happy hours together'. On being presented with a copy of the Derbyshire Times article Les was delighted saying "This is wonderful! I only wish Cyril could be here to see it".
[Pictured above: (left) Cyril and Les Bradwell pictured in Derbyshire Times article, 24 March 1944, relating to their surprise reunion in Palestine (which took place a few months earlier in November 1943); (right) Peak in the Past volunteer Tim Knebel presenting Les Bradwell with the rediscovered Second World War Derbyshire Times article relating to Les and his brother, Jan 2017].
Heartened by the unexpected visit from Les, Cyril recovered from his illness. Both he and Les survived the war however most of Les' shipmates on the HMS Penelope were not so lucky. In January 1944, just a couple of months after Les' emotional reunion with his brother in Palestine, the Penelope was deployed to the Mediterranean where she was involved in the Battle of Anzio, Italy. On 18 February 1944, Les' ship was sunk by torpedoes fired from a German U-boat off the Italian coast of Naples. Out of 623 men on board at the time, 417 perished.
Les narrowly avoided death as he had been transferred back to barracks just a couple of days before this fatal attack, along with a fellow telegraphist Peter Kiff, after they had been involved in a heated exchange with a petty officer who they felt was making life miserable for another of shipmate. Les has never forgotten his fallen HMS Penelope friends and comrades and to this day he speaks movingly about his feelings of guilt at how he survived when they did not. On Remembrance Day each year, Les sends a memorial wreath up to Inverness in Scotland, the home town of his close friend and fellow telegraphist on the Penelope, John Kidd, who was one of so many shipmates killed in the U-boat attack (Kidd was aged just 20 when he died).
Les sums up his Second World War service by saying: "I am proud to have served in the Royal Navy. It was an experience, from teenager to manhood, of pleasure in comradeship and yet at times of great sadness. Strangely, even as I get older, I recall events with great clarity, wishing sometimes I could forget. I thank God that I survived, when so many of my comrades died."
Les narrowly avoided death as he had been transferred back to barracks just a couple of days before this fatal attack, along with a fellow telegraphist Peter Kiff, after they had been involved in a heated exchange with a petty officer who they felt was making life miserable for another of shipmate. Les has never forgotten his fallen HMS Penelope friends and comrades and to this day he speaks movingly about his feelings of guilt at how he survived when they did not. On Remembrance Day each year, Les sends a memorial wreath up to Inverness in Scotland, the home town of his close friend and fellow telegraphist on the Penelope, John Kidd, who was one of so many shipmates killed in the U-boat attack (Kidd was aged just 20 when he died).
Les sums up his Second World War service by saying: "I am proud to have served in the Royal Navy. It was an experience, from teenager to manhood, of pleasure in comradeship and yet at times of great sadness. Strangely, even as I get older, I recall events with great clarity, wishing sometimes I could forget. I thank God that I survived, when so many of my comrades died."
[Pictured above: (left) Les and Barbara Bradwell on their wedding day at Hathersage Church, 1948; (right) Hope Cement Works (owned by G. and T. Earle) where all four Bradwell siblings worked after the war]
After the war, Les and Cyril returned to Bradwell and, along with younger brother Stanley, ended up working together at Hope Cement Works owned by G. and T. Earle (situated a couple of miles away from Bradwell). They were also joined there by their sister Jessie who (in addition to her duties working for the family butchers/grocers business) worked at the cement works at different times as a canteen assistant. Les remembers walking to work at the cement works every day in all weathers and, in times of heavy snow (which regularly fell in the district in the Winter), how they had to walk along the tops of the drystone walls!
Working in the cement works was not without its dangers. Les recalls how one of his Bradwell neighbours Arthur Bradwell (born 1917) (no relation) was killed, along with another colleague, in an accident at the works when they fell into a cement vat. Les remembers how it fell on him to break the dreadful news to Arthur’s wife when he returned from work that day. Overall though, Les reflects on his time at the cement works with great fondness and speaks about its importance in providing much needed employment for so many people in the rural locality over so many decades. The cement works also had its own 'Welfare Committee' in the mid 1900s, which organised a regular programme of sports, recreational and social activities for the workforce so there was a vibrant social scene there.
In 1948, Les married his wife Barbara (a local girl who he had met playing tennis!) at Hathersage Church. They went on to have four children. Although the family set up home in the neighbouring Peak District village of Hathersage, Bradwell has always retained a special place in Les' affections - the village which shares its name with his surname, home to his remarkable family for so many generations, and to which for centuries the Bradwells have contributed so much.
Working in the cement works was not without its dangers. Les recalls how one of his Bradwell neighbours Arthur Bradwell (born 1917) (no relation) was killed, along with another colleague, in an accident at the works when they fell into a cement vat. Les remembers how it fell on him to break the dreadful news to Arthur’s wife when he returned from work that day. Overall though, Les reflects on his time at the cement works with great fondness and speaks about its importance in providing much needed employment for so many people in the rural locality over so many decades. The cement works also had its own 'Welfare Committee' in the mid 1900s, which organised a regular programme of sports, recreational and social activities for the workforce so there was a vibrant social scene there.
In 1948, Les married his wife Barbara (a local girl who he had met playing tennis!) at Hathersage Church. They went on to have four children. Although the family set up home in the neighbouring Peak District village of Hathersage, Bradwell has always retained a special place in Les' affections - the village which shares its name with his surname, home to his remarkable family for so many generations, and to which for centuries the Bradwells have contributed so much.
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