Tommy the Elephant

In May 1871, Plymouth was visited by the then Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred Ernest Albert. He had been on a world cruise and arrived in Plymouth Sound on the 19th May of that year. With him he brought a baby elephant which he named Tommy.
The crew of the ship marched down Fore Street in Devonport with Tommy at their head and this is probably the only photo of him that still remains. No-one knows what became of Tommy but perhaps he ended up in one of England's many zoos.
The Prince went on to become Vice-Admiral, Channel Squadron, Commander-in-Chief, Devonport in 1890 and later became Admiral of the Fleet.

Bronze Age finds at Warleigh

I regularly take my dog for a walk at Warleigh Woods, near to Tamerton Foliot village, and for several months, there have been lorries travelling back and forth as a solar farm is created nearby.
Apparently the work has now stopped because finds from the Bronze Age have been discovered during all the digging work.
Tamerton Foliot and the Warleigh Estate are steeped in history and also have connections with the Romans.
Many years ago, local historian, Marshall Ware, told me that his interest in history began when he was given a greenstone neolithic axe in 1910 by Mr H Montagu-Evans. Similar axes were found in the 1960s near to the Brown and Sharpe factory site. Marshall's axe was excavated in 1898 by a team of soldiers, headed by a Captain Mullens, by Ernesettle Woods, which pointed to it being one of the earliest settlements in the area.
It will be interesting to discover exactly what has been found at Warleigh and there must be many more relics and much more history that lays yet undiscovered.

Dartmoor Through the Year

Amberley have just released my latest book, 'Dartmoor Through the Year' which features full-colour photos of Dartmoor throughout the seasons.
It's available from all good book shops and also from Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dartmoor-Through-Year-Derek-Tait/dp/1848683553/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361307139&sr=1-1

Bill Haley

The King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, never visited Plymouth (or England) but the father of Rock 'n' Roll, Bill Haley, did.
On 22nd February 1957, Bill Haley and his Comets appeared for one night only at the Odeon in Frankfort Street. Tickets for the circle were 8/6 and also on the bill were the Vic Lewis Orchestra together with comedians Malcolm Vaughan and Kenneth Earle. Also featured was Desmond Lane with his tin whistle!
Bill played to an audience of 3,000 who, according to a report in the Herald, 'clapped and stamped their feet to the music'. The report said that the show was definately not for 'squares' and included the 'monotonous, pounding rhythm of electric guitars, string bass, and drums'. The show ended with the three songs 'Shake Rattle 'n' Roll', 'See You Later Alligator' and 'Rock Around The Clock'.
Hundreds of fans waited outside the venue hoping to get a glimpse of Bill but both he and the Comets left by a side door after the concert and were taken to their next venue at Southampton.  The tour was promoted by Lew and Leslie Grade and other venues included: February 1957: 6th  The Dominion in London for 4 nights, 10th The Gaumont at Coventry,
11th The Odeon at Nottingham, 12th The Odeon at Birmingham, 13th The Odeon at Manchester, 14th The Odeon at Leeds, 15th The Odeon at Sunderland, 16th The Odeon at Newcastle, 17th The Gaumont at Bradford, 18th The Odeon at Glasgow for 2 nights, 20th The Odeon at Liverpool, 21st The Capitol at Cardiff, 22nd The Odeon at Plymouth, 23rd The Gaumont at Southampton and on the 24th The Gaumont State at Kilburn for 3 nights.
March 1957:
1st The Hippodrome at Belfast for 2 nights, 3rd The Regal at Edmonton, 4th The Davis at Croydon for 2 nights, 6th The Carlton in Norwich, 7th The Gaumont at Doncaster, 8th The Gaumont at Wolverhampton, 9th The Gaumont at Cheltenham and on the 10th back to The Dominion in London.
The Comets included Johnny Grande on accordion, Billy Williamson on steel guitar, Ralph Jones on drums, Rudy Pompilli on saxophone, Al Rex on bass and Franny Beecher on electric guitar. Other songs included in their set were Razzle Dazzle, Rock-a-Beating Boogie, Mambo Rock, The Saints Rock and Roll, Rocking Through The Rye, Rip It Up, Rudy's Rock, Don't Knock The Rock, Live It Up, Crazy Man Crazy and Hook Line And Sinker.

Nazereth House at Devil's Point

Many people who regularly walk at Devil's Point will have noticed the building work that has been taking place at Nazareth House.
Before Nazareth House was built in the 1970s, the site used to house the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe's Winter Villa. The photo on the left shows the grand old building that once stood there.

The Winter Villa was built at Stonehouse in 1855 and was seen as a more comfortable and suitable dwelling for Ernest Augustus, 3rd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1797-1861), who was, at the time, in poor health. The house had fifty rooms but was little used after Ernest's death in 1861. By 1900, with the house no longer being used by the Edgcumbe family, it was leased to a prominent local family. In 1927, the premises were sold to the Sisters of Nazereth who were a Roman Catholic Order. The building was converted into a school and orphanage for young girls and opened in 1932 with a new name, Nazareth House. Orphans from Saint Teresa's Orphanage at Gasking Street, Plymouth were soon transferred to the the new building.

In the Second World War, the girls were evacuated to Elfordleigh and a regiment of Royal Marines were billeted there. The building was partly destroyed during heavy bombing and the cleared site was used for a chapel. After the war, the nuns and girls returned and were housed in what remained of the building. However, during the 1970s, because of maintenance bills, what was left of the Winter Villa was removed and a purpose-built orphanage was constructed in its place. Beside the small orphanage, there was also an old folks home. Recent reconstruction and rebuilding has taken place after the building was found to contain asbestos.

The second photo shows residents of Stonehouse holding a garden fete in the Winter Villa in 1912.

The third photo shows the villa as seen from Plymouth Sound.

Neil Armstrong

When I was 7 years old, back in 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. I remember, at the time, that everyone was amazed by this. Every boy had a collection of Airfix models that either made the Apollo rocket, the Lunar Module or an astronaut. I had an astronaut hanging from my ceiling for years! Blue Peter showed you how to build a rocket out of a Squeezee bottle, together with other parts, and I had one balancing on my window ledge for months. Heinz beans gave away some fantastic posters of the space project that we all had pinned to our walls and Findus gave away free flexi-discs of the voices of the astonauts talking to mission control during the moon landing. For a while, everyone was moon-mad. I remember our teacher at Knowle Primary, in West Park, letting some of the kids in the class watch the moon walks on the tv that was kept by the assembly hall. Everyone had black and white televisions in those days and we all sat mesmerised as we watched the flickering images broadcast live back from the moon. After it was finished, we had to go back to class and tell the other kids, who hadn't been allowed to watch, what it was all like. We were all fascinated by space travel and imagined that people would soon be living on the moon and then Mars. Of course, none of it ever happened and Neil Armstrong's trip seemed to be the peak of NASA's achievement. It seems odd now but when the final man walked on the moon in 1972, just three years later, people had lost interest and were turning off their tellies in their droves. The same thing happened with the Space Shuttle program. It got in the end that, unless one of them crashed, their missions weren't even reported on the news. It was all very incredible but, people being what they are, soon get fed up with it all.
When Neil Armstrong died a couple of days ago, a part of my childhood went  with him. Days of anticipation watching the flight to the moon, the live broadcasts of the moon walks and the pomp and ceremony when the astronauts arrived back on Earth. It was all fascinating stuff especially for a small boy.
I read somewhere that there's more technology in a modern washing machine than there was in the lunar module (although I find it hard to believe!).
They were great days and there's nothing like it nowadays. The 1960s and 1970s were great times, full of adventure, when anything seemed possible.
No matter where space technology takes us, Neil Armstrong will always be remembered for being the first man on the moon and will always remain an icon of the 20th century.

D Day in Saltash Passage

In January 1944, the US army set up camp at Vicarage Road in preparation for the D-Day landings. Altogether, it housed 60,000 troops on their way to the Normandy landings. It was also a reception centre for returning troops from July 1944.
The whole operation was highly secret and from May 1944, anyone who wanted to visit relatives in the area had to apply for a permit and would be escorted to the address by military police. They would also have to give a specific time when they would be leaving.
The mission was codenamed Operation Overlord. The codename for the many US bases around Plymouth was 'sausages'.
During this time, the river was full of ships loading men and equipment. One day the river was full of ships and the next day, it was completely empty as the troops headed towards the beaches of Normandy.

Children in the area loved the American troops and would pester them for sweets, chewing gum, chocolate, food and cocoa etc. The Americans weren't affected by rationing and were very generous to the locals especially the children. In the city, they even paid for and organised parties for them.
The large majority of troops in Plymouth were from the 29th Armoured division which went on to land at the Omah and Utah beaches. Omah beach was the codename for one of the main landing points for the troops on 6 June 1944. Unfortunately, it is where the Americans suffered their heaviest casualties. The Vicarage Road camp was decommissioned in September 1945.
Tamar Terrace was later renamed Normandy Way and Vicarage Road was renamed Normandy Hill to commemorate the troops that passed this way on their way to the D-Day landings.

A monument stands in Saltash Passage to commemorate where a slipway was built for the departure of the US troops. They constructed slipways or 'hards' which were known as 'chocolate box hards' to the troops. Sections can still be seen there, some are scattered along the foreshore.
A tablet commemorating the event was unveiled on Normandy Hill, known as US Army Route 23, by the Mayor of Cherbourg in May 1947.
A memorial was later erected in the gardens and the plaque on it reads:
'This tablet marks the departure from this place of units of the V and V11 corps of the United States Army on the 6th June 1944 for the D-Day landings in France and was unveiled by His Excellency John Hay Whitney, the Ambassador of the United States of America.
May 1958'.

I was lucky to know Marshall Ware, the St Budeaux historian, and I have many of his cuttings and notes amongst my collection. Marshall wrote down many things that happened in the Second World War and some of his reminisces I've included in my book, 'Memories of St Budeaux.'
When the American troops took over Saltash Passage in preparation for D-Day in 1944, everyone was issued with special passes so that they could enter the area. Marshall remembered, 'We all had identity cards but Saltash Passage residents were issued with yellow Certificate of Residence Cards. It bore the holder's National Registration Identity Card number and stated that the holder was thereby certified to be a resident within the specified area and that it must be carried out of doors at all times and shown to any Constable or member of His Majesty's or Allied Forces on duty. It bore the signature of the holder and was signed by the Chief Constable of Plymouth and the distribution was completed by 19th April 1944. One resident, wearing tennis gear, forgot to carry his card and was taken in a jeep for interrogation to the US Naval Advanced Amphibious Base at Vicarage Receiving Barracks at St Budeaux.'

The troops were very friendly and polite to the local residents.
Maurice Dart recalled, 'I remember the American's camp at Vicarage Road. When I was a boy, we would go down to the gate sometimes and they would give us chocolates and sweets and items to take home, such as tins of cocoa, biscuits and butter. My mother used to tell me off for scrounging but she was always pleased to receive it all!'
The rare colour photo shows the smiling faces of the American troops as they left for D-Day. Residents remember that the area was a hive of activity while the troops were there but, one day, they awoke to find that they'd all gone, leaving just a baseball bat behind.