Guest grantaloch Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 I seem to to remember awhile ago before I was posting. Certain towns in Britain being given a W.W.1. tank, way back in distant past when I was a boy, I seem to remember seeing one in preston park Brighton. Does my memory serve me right. I am sure I can remember playing on it when I was a boy. I know there was a thread as I say obout this subject awhile ago, and I wonder if anybody cangive me any information. Thank you. (GRANTALOCH.) Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 There's one in Ashford, Kent. Donated in 1919. Gunner Bailey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy litchfield Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 There used to be a WW1 tank and field gun in Wardown Park, Luton. Both were removed for scrap metal during WW2. BW Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislock Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 I have a book that lists one in Weston Super Mare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 There must be tank experts who can give a better answer than I, but I started to look into this on discovering from old postcards that there was a tank in Tunbridge Wells (near the post office) and in Tonbridge (outside the castle). The two towns are only five miles apart. I could not imagine the whole country being populated with tanks on that lavish scale. In fact, according to The Times (4 April 1919), 264 “war-battered” tanks were presented to towns by the War Savings Committee. They were allocated to those towns that had raised the most money by the residents’ purchases of National War Bonds and War Savings Certificates. Unfortunately, I have not found a list of the towns. The sums raised were prodigious. West Hartlepool garnered an average of £31 9s 1p per head of population in the period from 1 October 1918 to 18 January 1919. A few days earlier (25 March 1919) and perhaps not unconnected, The Times reported that the Disposal Board of the Ministry of Supply could find no takers for tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 One used to be displayed in Victoria Park, Haslingden in Lancashire. There is a persistent local legend that it was buried in the park in the 1920's and is still there. A few years ago as I've mentioned before on the forum, someone was planning to dig it up and present it to the IWM North. However it now appears that the story is just a legend and that the tank was in fact broken up for scrap circa 1926. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 I seem to to remember awhile ago before I was posting. Certain towns in Britain being given a W.W.1. tank, way back in distant past when I was a boy, I seem to remember seeing one in preston park Brighton. Does my memory serve me right. I am sure I can remember playing on it when I was a boy. I know there was a thread as I say obout this subject awhile ago, and I wonder if anybody cangive me any information. Thank you. (GRANTALOCH.) Bob. Bob There was at least one WW1 tank in Brighton. There was a picture of it in the "Argus" 5 to 10 years ago, in the 'yesterday' section, or whatever it is called. IIRC that tank was removed and recycled for the war effort in WW2. So, if you played on one in Preston Park you must have been born in the mid 1930s at the latest, or there was more than one tank in Brighton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Birch Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 The Ashford tank is painted dark green, rather than the more earthy camouflage colours of today's AFVs. Does anyone know if this is a true WW1 colour for tanks? Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockney tone Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Bob, a local history book on the Cheshunt area in Hertfordshire (UK) shows that they had one in the park, but it was scrapped during WW2. the remains of the concrete plinth it stood on were still visible on my last visit approx 10 years ago. Regards, Scottie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Does anyone know if this is a true WW1 colour for tanks Tim The first tanks were panted in a very disupted patterm - see Clan Lesle (Mark I) on the attcahed link http://www.tankmuseum.co.uk/colevolution.html but this did not last for long and they were later painted a dull brown or green Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Not a tank but a howitzer - have recently come across pic of German gund donated to Ballymena's Memorial Park ... it was re-enlisted in WW2!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Post-WWI, guns seemed to have been presented to many schools and villages (I posted a couple of pics of howitzers in Wiltshire villages last year, when Pals kindly identified them.) The same doesn't seem to have been done post-WWII with the notable exception of the Sherman tank retrieved from the sea by Ken Small at Slapton Sands, Devon. He preserved it as a memorial to the hundreds of American troops killed in 1944 when German eboats infiltrated ships rehearsing for D-Day. Ken was a familiar figure by the tank, selling copies of his book "The Forgotten Dead; sadly he died a year or two ago. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBettsMCDCM Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 There was until WW2;I believe,one in the Town Park Wisbech,Cambridgeshire,which went the way of all scrap in WW2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAAAEd Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 I seem to to remember awhile ago before I was posting. Certain towns in Britain being given a W.W.1. tank, way back in distant past when I was a boy, I seem to remember seeing one in preston park Brighton. Does my memory serve me right. I am sure I can remember playing on it when I was a boy. I know there was a thread as I say obout this subject awhile ago, and I wonder if anybody cangive me any information. Thank you. (GRANTALOCH.) Bob. Your memory as a boy is probably correct. David Fletcher in his book 'The British Tanks 1915 – 19' suggests the reasoning behind tanks being given to communities as memorials. Fletcher states that it was '... possibly the suggestion of the National War Savings Committee...' to didtribute tanks to those communities that had contributed most to the War Bonds sales drives. The top prize, the battle-damaged Egbert went to West Hartlepool. In all some 265 tanks were distributed but not all communities appreciated them. Most were training Mark IV females and all had the final drive chains removed. Farningham, Kent had one and another found a home on Whale Island in Portsmouth Harbour at the RN gunnery school HMS Excellent. Many sucumbed to the drive for scrap metal in WW2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred W Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 One was sent to Nelson, Lancashire, and placed in Victoria Park. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 amongst other sacrifices to WW II were my parents' gates and railings [Hove, next door to the tank in Brighton] .... I remember the day they were cut off. The whole country still bears the scars of 'derailed' gardens and parks, little rusty square or circular remnants on dwarf walls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAAAEd Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 amongst other sacrifices to WW II were my parents' gates and railings [Hove, next door to the tank in Brighton] .... I remember the day they were cut off. The whole country still bears the scars of 'derailed' gardens and parks, little rusty square or circular remnants on dwarf walls. Aye! I remember them well as a kid in Gloucester. Also the stumps of the mud-scrapers (for want of any other name) by folk's front doors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Bedward Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Hello - Newton Abbot Devon was presented with a tank, much to the consternation of local shopkeepers who were terrified that their property would be damaged and local rate payers were worried about the cost of maintenance. A big discussion went on about were it should be parked. There was also a very anti war faction that didn’t want this “symbol of evil” in the town. It finally went into the local park by the railway station until it was scrapped at the beginning of WW2. My village was presented with a machine gun, which caused the parish council great problems as to where to put it. I’m sure that some of the returned service men could have told them. That too vanished for the next war. Cheers, Old Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve121 Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Hythe in Kent, had both a tank and a field gun after the war. My Father (born in Hythe in 1916) used to tell me tales about playing on it and being chased away as a youngster. I believe these items went the same way as others, being taken for scap during WW2. I have been told the tank that still remains in Ashford now houses a electricty sub station, where the engine used to be. Tank and field gun shown near Hythe war memorial. Date unknown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest grantaloch Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Hello Beppo. If I may call you that, it rather gives my age away dont it. because I can remember seeing that tank you have just comfirmed what I thought. Am I lucky or what how many can say they have actually been on the top of a W.W.1. tank. Just to make sure I will now make a search of the argus records. Thanks a lot everybody for your replies. P.S. whisper it quitely I was born in 1932 so I have seen a lot of other things as well.(grantaloch.)Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred W Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 amongst other sacrifices to WW II were my parents' gates and railings [Hove, next door to the tank in Brighton] .... I remember the day they were cut off. The whole country still bears the scars of 'derailed' gardens and parks, little rusty square or circular remnants on dwarf walls. If I remember correctly the railings in our part of the world were pig iron and not suitable for any real use during the war. They were removed as a public relations excercise, and just lay unused. Can anyone confirm this? Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 If I remember correctly the railings in our part of the world were pig iron and not suitable for any real use during the war. They were removed as a public relations excercise, and just lay unused. Can anyone confirm this? Fred Many years ago this point was discussed and it was stated that all the majority of the recovered scrap could not be utilised.It was merely an exercise by the wartime government in raising spirit and morale by a feeling of contributing to the war effort.As a child I remember the railings and gate posts being burnt off, leaving dangerous stumps which presented a risk to us kids.From what I see now, the iron railings in many cases were never replaced. The collection of aluminium saucepans was a different matter and contributed to essential aluminium stocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAAAEd Posted 6 March , 2006 Share Posted 6 March , 2006 The collection of aluminium saucepans was a different matter Yep, and some of then possibly were flying around our heads yesterday down here in the Solent region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 6 March , 2006 Share Posted 6 March , 2006 Hello Beppo. If I may call you that, it rather gives my age away dont it. because I can remember seeing that tank you have just comfirmed what I thought. Am I lucky or what how many can say they have actually been on the top of a W.W.1. tank. Just to make sure I will now make a search of the argus records. Thanks a lot everybody for your replies. P.S. whisper it quitely I was born in 1932 so I have seen a lot of other things as well.(grantaloch.)Bob. Hi Bob Why not just try a phonecall to the journalist that runs that feature? If you decide to search do not bother with more recent issues of the paper. I saw the item, complete with photo of the tank, in the paper when I lived in Sussex. I have been "up north" for almost 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 6 March , 2006 Share Posted 6 March , 2006 The collection of aluminium saucepans was a different matter and contributed to essential aluminium stocks. QUOTE(PetrolPigeon @ Mar 6 2006, 12:03 PM) Yep, and some of then possibly were flying around our heads yesterday down here in the Solent region. Yes, that does tend to happen when you come in from a 'lads night out' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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