David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Wednesday 15 September 2021

Eden Camp

 It was a tad damp yesterday, so Sue and I opted for a visit to the museum at Eden Camp, a WWII POW camp converted to a museum. At £15 a piece it may seem pricey to some I know, but you could easily spend several hours there. Sadly our visit coincided with a Visit by Primary School children, not my favourite species as a former High School teacher! They get under your feet I find! The museum tells the story of WWII, and its aftermath, from the Treaty of Versailles to Afghanistan. The displays are informative and interesting, though one or two as you'll see are decidedly odd we thought...

"Tomorrow Belongs to Me!" Thankfully not, but this is the odd first scene you encounter. Disturbing I thought.
Period assessment of the state of war readiness...
...and Nazi German propaganda posters.
A universal carrier. The camouflage pattern is interesting.
V1, not as big as I thought.
Controlling Fighter Command's response to Blitz attacks by the Luftwaffe.
A 251 in early war grey.
German 150mm gun {12 points Table 4?}
Women's War work, both my mother and Sue's mother worked at Kynocks in Birmingham during the war. We wonder if they ever met...
The Prefab solution to the rehousing crisis after the war. In Stockland Green, Birmingham and in part of Wolverhampton a number have continued in use to today, though now they are brick clad and thoroughly modern inside. In their day those bombed out folk rehoused in them were very impressed usually.
Britain's air defence zones. I wonder if they've changed much today?
Finally, and apologies in advance if the swastika offends, but a vignette display of Adolf in his cell working on Mein Kampf. {Matt tells me he dictated it to Hess though, so not accurate!}
A grand day out, thoroughly recommend if you are near Malton, North Yorkshire. 


16 comments:

  1. A different display set up to when we visited a few years ago. I lived in a prefab for quite a few years.

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  2. We still have quite a few prefabs dotted around Bristol, that are loved by the residents.

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    1. I suspect that there are more surviving and in use than you'd think

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  3. Very nice thanks for sharing David it brings back memories as we visited Eden Camp about 3 years ago as a family 👍

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    1. I would recommend the visit, though not at the same time as a Primary School!

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  4. That last photo does look a bit like Spike Milligan

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  5. The POW camp very near where I live was an Italian pow one. Sadly it is no longer open to public after our council foolishly refused to turn it into an attraction. The pow's created a beautiful church alter in one of the prefabs. They also painted some beautiful scenes of Italy on the walls. Its such a shame it isnt open to the public. On another note David Im surprised at you apologising for having an image of a swastika on your blog, surely you havent succumbed to this woke nonsense?

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    1. Sad that they missed an opportunity, but that's councils for you, universally useless.

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  6. Interesting. Our second home was a prefab when I was but a lad.

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  7. Gosh it’s been many a year since I’ve been to Eden Camp…

    Adolf doesn’t look deranged enough… if he ever typed I imagine it would have been with his fists…

    I believe some 1940s prefabs now have preservation orders on them…
    Prefabs are of course still made today… a lot fancier than the post war versions though…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Interesting info on listing for prefabs Aly, I didn't know that so thanks.

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    2. Weren't the ones down from the Tettenhall Road listed?

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