Today we added a real insight into life at GHQ Coleshill.
Cpl Joan Welborn worked in the stable block as a Typist during the war.
Read the full report and see images of her and others taken at Coleshill here
Our thanks to Joan and CART CIO for Coleshill Bill Ashby for preparing this page.
We are pleased to announce that CART membership has now re-opened.
We are working towards a full revamp of our website which will offer greater disability access and a whole range of improved features for web visitors. This is an expensive procedure and sadly not one that can be created in-house using volunteer time. We desperately need to raise as much funding as possible and CART membership fees will contribute greatly towards this.
We hope you will want to support us and can see the value in the hard work we are all putting in to keeping this important history public and freely accessible.
You can see all the benefits of new membership and sign up here
Please do share this with other interested parties as well.
Peter White, son of the Sgt Fred White of the Langton Matravers Auxiliary Unit is planning to unveil a memorial plaque to the patrol on October 27th 2012.
The British Legion will be in attendance and CART will be providing a small stand in the village hall (seen left). CART’s researchers for Dorset, Coleshill and Devon will also be in attendance.
The small event is open to all and anyone wishing to take part should contact Tom Sykes by emailing hq@coleshillhouse.com
More information on the event can be seen here
The National Trust at Coleshill are planning another event at Coleshill later this month.
Some CART researchers will be walking around in branded hi vis tabards but CART will not have a stand at the event.
This event will be a busy interactive weekend, visitors will be encouraged to arrive in 1940’s costume, there will be prizes!
Please Note: The event is the same each day except for Saturday at noon when the OB will be opened.
To find out more about the weekend please see here
Today we have added a page including pictures and video on the Beverley South Auxiliary Unit Patrol from East Ridings in Yorkshire.
Andy Gwynne has made a cracking video inside the Operational Base and the full report can be seen here
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Keith Blaxhall. Keith was the Head Warden at Coleshill (National Trust) for over 30 years and was incredibly influential in the creation of CART and was a founding member. He died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday. Keith features on our Weapons DVD and was a real ambassador for keeping the memory of the Auxiliary Units alive.
Keith was qualified as a Building and Land Surveyor and worked for an architect, a national contractor and in local government. Keith retired in May 2011 but for more than 30 years Keith was the Head Warden for The National Trust in West Oxfordshire and managed country estates, archaeological sites and woodlands covering in all approx 10,500 acres including Coleshill. He was the secretary of The Ridgeway Military and Aviation Research Group with a museum at RAF Welford near Newbury. Keith was also a member of The Airfield Research Group and The Mosquito Aircraft Museum and contributed parts to The Assault Glider Project at RAF Shawbury.
“Keith was my first point of contact at Coleshill and he got me really fired up about the British Resistance. He then worked closely with me as CART was formed and attended all our meetings. His experience, gentle manner and wealth of knowledge will be sorely missed.” – Tom Sykes – CART Founder
“I was very sorry to here of Keith’s passing – I met Keith not long after CART was founded and was struck by his experience, knowledge and enthusiasm for local history, especially that of the Auxiliary Units. A really, really nice guy, I’m sure he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.” – Peter Antill – CART Researcher
“I’m so very sorry to read about Keith. He was a gentleman in a land where few still exist. He had qualities and standards that anyone would be proud to emulate. My thoughts are with his family. It’s they that have to bear the brunt of sorrow, loss, perhaps anger and a hole in life impossible to fill. I’m dreadfully sorry, I liked him greatly.” – Richard Ashley – CART Weapons Adviser
“Such sad news – a really great guy who went out of his way help everyone. He called me only a few days ago to tell me that he had a pile of Aux Coleshill related papers that he was going to hand over. He was in good form, his normal cheerful self and we arranged to meet up. So it is a real shock to hear of his passing. My thoughts are with his family” – Bill Ashby – CART CIO for Coleshill
“ I feel privileged to have met with him and enjoyed his wonderful knowledge and humor.” Clive Bassett
“That is such a shame. Will be a sad loss to us all. Sympathy to his family.” - Sallie Mogford – CART CIO for Wales
“I was much saddened to hear the news about the passing on of Keith Blaxhall who’s kind hearted sharing spirit combined with his knowlege of Auxunits and Coleshill was a great help and support for me when I was doing my own researches. He was certainly an inspiration in the way he dealt with others and passed on his own infectious enthusiasm and interest.” – Matt Gibbs – Aux Researcher and Re-Enactor
“Keith’s knowledge and enthusiasm have, I am sure, inspired many people. He was always willing to put himself out to help others and it was always a delight to meet him. He was also a good friend to Subterranea Britannica, running a number of private tours at Coleshill and will be remembered by many.” – Martin Dixon - Subterranea Britannica
He leaves a wife and family and a huge void in the hearts of local historians.
R.I.P Keith.
The Brancaster Auxiliary Unit Patrol was one of only two patrols in Norfolk Group 6 the other being Holkham Park Patrol.
Sadly none of the patrol members are still alive and there are no relatives still living in the area but our researchers still managed to compile this report.
An unknown Operational Base marks the end of CART’s published research for Suffolk Auxiliary Unit Patrols.
CART researchers believe they have uncovered all the known patrols in the county and now hope the public can help fill in any last pieces.
You can read the report on this OB here
Norwich Zero Station – Many 0f our researchers believe this to be the most significant ‘find’ in terms of research into the Special Duties Section in the last decade.
In the spring of 2012, we were contacted by a retired grounds man who informed us about the existence of a secret WWII ‘bunker’ and a meeting was arranged within the same week.
Armed with spades, shovels, a crow bar, and a metal detector we met the owners’ development manager at the site. What we found left us quite breathless (in more than one way)
The property owners acted swiftly and with great responsibility in that the in-house surveyors as well as Norfolk County archaeologists were informed 
within hours. Furthermore, thanks to the owners’ generosity and trust we were the first to carry out a detailed survey before anyone else came on site, and for this we are immensely grateful. Bound by our promise not to talk about what we had seen, we quietly continued our research and we produced a report to be used for guidance by all concerned – knowing that nobody would be familiar with what they would be seeing, and that for this reason not only would many small details go unnoticed but, more importantly, the importance of this find might not be fully understood. Nowhere in the UK was there another Zero-station in a similar state of preservation and with so many original features still in place. Consequently, we suggested that the structure is of national importance and that it should for this reason be preserved in its entirety.
In due course, the Norfolk County archaeologists requested our presence when conducting their own assessment – needless to say that we were very pleased to be invited to meet them. To our great delight, they unanimously decided on the spot to involve National Heritage, resulting in the Zero station being declared a Scheduled Monument of national importance. Our report now forms part of the archaeological survey of the site.
Our thanks go to the landowner and the hard work Evelyn and Adrian have put in to producing this report.
See the full exclusive report here
We have just added a patrol report on the Admiralty 4 Bath Auxiliary Unit Patrol by our Devon researcher Nina Hannaford.
The OB was constructed in an exsisting structure of an ice house in Prior Park which was built c1750 and parts of it can still be explored today.
Nina’s report has some great first hand accounts of training and life in the OB.
Read it here