Latest news with #RadioSurrey
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'It's important these graves are visited'
"I think it's really important that all of these graves are visited and that people know their stories." That's what Megan Maltby of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission told Radio Surrey about the largest war cemetery in Britain. Brookwood Military Cemetery, which covers a 37-acre site near Woking, is home to 1,601 burials for people who died in World War One and 3,476 for people who died in World War Two. The nationalities of people laid to rest at the Surrey site include Commonwealth countries, wartime allies, as well as Germans and Italians. The land began as a civilian cemetery in the 19th Century but expanded into a military cemetery after WW1 broke out. One of the youngest people known to be buried at the site is South African soldier Thomas Knowles, who Ms Maltby said is believed to be "part of a musical band that was travelling with the South African army". The 15-year-old died of influenza "like so many others in 1918", she said. Brookwood Military Cemetery is also the resting place of 27 Indian soldiers, whose graves were moved from a different cemetery nearby in 1968 after vandalism incidents. Among the names commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial is Anglo-French spy Violette Szabo, who worked on behalf of the UK's Special Operations Executive in WW2. The Allies trained Szabo as a field agent and sent her to France during its occupation to feed back useful information. Ms Maltby said: "She was with some resistance fighters at the time they were stopped by a German patrol. "She was captured by the Germans, she was interrogated, she was tortured, she was sadly put to death at a concentration camp." Szabo is one of only four women to be awarded the George Cross after she was posthumously given the gallantry medal. Virginia McKenna portrayed the spy, who married a member of the French Resistance, in 1958 film Carve Her Name with Pride. Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Spy medals 'should stay in UK' More than 70 WW1 names added to memorial 'An affront to those who served' Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'It's important these graves are visited'
"I think it's really important that all of these graves are visited and that people know their stories." That's what Megan Maltby of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission told Radio Surrey about the largest war cemetery in Britain. Brookwood Military Cemetery, which covers a 37-acre site near Woking, is home to 1,601 burials for people who died in World War One and 3,476 for people who died in World War Two. The nationalities of people laid to rest at the Surrey site include Commonwealth countries, wartime allies, as well as Germans and Italians. The land began as a civilian cemetery in the 19th Century but expanded into a military cemetery after WW1 broke out. One of the youngest people known to be buried at the site is South African soldier Thomas Knowles, who Ms Maltby said is believed to be "part of a musical band that was travelling with the South African army". The 15-year-old died of influenza "like so many others in 1918", she said. Brookwood Military Cemetery is also the resting place of 27 Indian soldiers, whose graves were moved from a different cemetery nearby in 1968 after vandalism incidents. Among the names commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial is Anglo-French spy Violette Szabo, who worked on behalf of the UK's Special Operations Executive in WW2. The Allies trained Szabo as a field agent and sent her to France during its occupation to feed back useful information. Ms Maltby said: "She was with some resistance fighters at the time they were stopped by a German patrol. "She was captured by the Germans, she was interrogated, she was tortured, she was sadly put to death at a concentration camp." Szabo is one of only four women to be awarded the George Cross after she was posthumously given the gallantry medal. Virginia McKenna portrayed the spy, who married a member of the French Resistance, in 1958 film Carve Her Name with Pride. Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Spy medals 'should stay in UK' More than 70 WW1 names added to memorial 'An affront to those who served' Commonwealth War Graves Commission
BBC News
17-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Godstone Farm celebrates birth of rare goat quadruplets
A Surrey farm is celebrating the "very rare" birth of goat quadruplets for the first time in 40 Farm welcomed three male kids and one female on 4 April, making it the first quadruplet birth since the farm started breeding suggest that quadruplets are born in just 2% of births with this breed of goat, according to general manager Simon Ingram told Radio Surrey that the births made it a "really exciting time" for the farm. He added: "They are about a week-and-a-half old now and are getting lively, jumping up on things and climbing on their mother's back."They are a really fun, inquisitive, curious type of goat."We like to name the goats after members of our team so we are waiting to get an idea of their personality so we can match them to an appropriate member of the team." The four Boer goats are "thriving and all doing fantastically" alongside their mother, Mr Ingram said the goats weighed around 3kg when they were born but grow very quickly and were now getting on their feet and jumping farm employs a livestock team which looks after the goats 24 hours a day to ensure that they get the best Henderson, chief executive at Godstone Farm, said: "While twins are relatively common, and triplets are not uncommon, the birth of four kids is considered a statistically rare event."We're delighted to see their Mum thriving in her busy role and my thanks go to our wonderful livestock team who have been monitoring the new arrivals night and day to ensure they have the very best care."
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Veteran, 104, reveals life as a prisoner of war
One of the last surviving veterans of the Second World War has been sharing his experience of being held as a prisoner of war and returning to his life in Surrey. Eric Reeves, 104, joined the Territorial Army at 16 and became a Lance Corporal with the Queen's Royal Regiment by the age of 20 but was captured by German forces in 1940 and spent five years in a prison camp. Now Eric, from Godstone, has shared his experiences of being captured, as well as rebuilding his life following his release and return to the UK. Speaking to Radio Surrey about enlisting, he said: "We were delighted. We didn't know what frightened was." Eric and members of his regiment were captured in France in 1940 and marched to the town of Doullens in the north of the country and on to Amiens and Cambrai. He said that, during three days of marching, the prisoners were only given bread and water once. "We were then put on cattle trucks with our knees up and crammed in, and transported to Poland," he added. "We were so weak that if we tried to get up, we would black out and sit back down again Eric spent five years in a prison camp in Szubin, where he was held for the remainder of the war. During this time, he became fluent in German and is still able to speak the language to this day. In 1945, one of Eric's fellow prisoners left the hut one morning to discover there were no longer any guards. Later that day, an allied Russian tank ran over the gates of the prison camp and declared that the war was over. They were picked up by some German soldiers who had surrendered and were taken to an American military camp, before eventually returning home. On returning to Surrey, Eric said that he used some of his backpay from the army to take up ballroom dancing in Reigate. It was through this and an encounter in a dance hall in Dorking that he met his wife of 60 years, Hilda, by pretending to be a novice dancer to win her over. He said: "We started a slow foxtrot and she said, 'you old fibber, you can dance'. I'll always remember that!" Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Nine killed in WW2 bomber crash remembered Armistice Day marked across the South East Cadets urged to keep lessons of WW2 alive
BBC News
09-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Godstone: World War II veteran shares life as prisoner in Poland
One of the last surviving veterans of the Second World War has been sharing his experience of being held as a prisoner of war and returning to his life in Reeves, 104, joined the Territorial Army at 16 and became a Lance Corporal with the Queen's Royal Regiment by the age of 20 but was captured by German forces in 1940 and spent five years in a prison Eric, from Godstone, has shared his experiences of being captured, as well as rebuilding his life following his release and return to the to Radio Surrey about enlisting, he said: "We were delighted. We didn't know what frightened was." Eric and members of his regiment were captured in France in 1940 and marched to the town of Doullens in the north of the country and on to Amiens and said that, during three days of marching, the prisoners were only given bread and water once."We were then put on cattle trucks with our knees up and crammed in, and transported to Poland," he added."We were so weak that if we tried to get up, we would black out and sit back down againEric spent five years in a prison camp in Szubin, where he was held for the remainder of the war. During this time, he became fluent in German and is still able to speak the language to this 1945, one of Eric's fellow prisoners left the hut one morning to discover there were no longer any guards. Later that day, an allied Russian tank ran over the gates of the prison camp and declared that the war was were picked up by some German soldiers who had surrendered and were taken to an American military camp, before eventually returning returning to Surrey, Eric said that he used some of his backpay from the army to take up ballroom dancing in was through this and an encounter in a dance hall in Dorking that he met his wife of 60 years, Hilda, by pretending to be a novice dancer to win her said: "We started a slow foxtrot and she said, 'you old fibber, you can dance'. I'll always remember that!"
