Glasgow and Clyde Anti-Aircraft Defences

While we’ve managed to list quite a few of the Glasgow and Clyde AA Defence sites, there have been a number of inconsistencies between the ‘Official’ records held by organisations such as the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, and alternative sources such as personal memories and dedicated web sites.

This isn’t a surprise, as many sites have been destroyed, memories fade, and just to make sure there’s at least a little confusion in the mix, there’s probably a degree of mis-information within the old records, just in case the enemy was using available info.

We’ve decided to take some time out, and put a bit of effort into collating the info we have so far, and tie it into a single page so we can see what is, and what is not, consistent. This should show the information that is dependable, so we can put it to one side, and concentrate on the remaining data to see if anything can be done to tidy it up, resolve any inconsistencies, or even just list them, in the hope that something turns up in future that helps to clear up the confusion.

Not an overnight task, unfortunately (we’d like to see it done and dusted), we’ve already amassed info on over 50 sites (not all local) since we keep a record of any we trip over while searching (why waste it after all). While it shouldn’t take all that long, only a few night’s work, because we’re scouring the suspect locations in some detail, we keep finding other things we don’t want to lose – barrage balloon stations seem to be the favourite at the moment – so we’re just ferreting them away for the moment, so things don’t slow up too much.

The info is on the AA Batteries Clyde page, and will probably never be ‘finished’ as such, but the last column of the table should show what we think of the info we have. Stuff outside the table is just notes and working, so may, or may not be dependable – you have been warned!

As for the individual AA Battery pages, they’re independent of this exercise, and their info is unaffected, unless we find something new.

The British Resistance Organisation

Although it never had to operate in anger, the British Resistance Organisation (BRO) was readied for action throughout the British Isles, should they have been invaded and occupied.

Although not in the official Home Guard, the patrols were formed into three special Home Guard battalions as a cover – 201 for Scotland, 202 for Northern England, and 203 for Southern England.

Invasion was generally considered as a potential threat via the English Channel, but later analysis indicated a second threat, through Wales via neutral Ireland. From whatever source, the BRO was intended to be in place, with weapons and other resources hidden in secret location, placing them behind what would have become enemy lines.

For detailed information on the BRO, its history and the resources it had in place, please visit the online pages of the British Resistance Organisation Museum.

We have no references to specific BRO operations in Scotland, and have noted that other sites relating to the history of the BRO have also been unsuccessful in locating such information.

It may be that there are no longer any remaining survivors from the period, or that there was little activity since the invasion potential for Scotland was significantly less than that of the more southerly options, and resources would have been limited.

Any information, memories or recollections would be welcome, before they are lost completely, and would be most appreciated.

Brock’s appeal

We received the following email, asking for help in tracing any family history relating to Brock’s, and we’re happy to pass the request on in case anyone reading here can assist. If you can, the mail for replies is given at the end of the message.

I wonder if you can help me.

My name is Peter James Brock. I am researching my roots and looking for my lost relatives.

The reason that I am contacting you is that two of my Brock relatives, John and William, were “firework makers” or “pyrotechnicist’s” in London according to the 1861 Census. Were they involved with ‘Brock’s Fireworks’ in a management role or were they workers with a famous name? Did they have anything at all to do with Brock’s Fireworks? Their name and occupation seem to be too much of a co-incidence to ignore; don’t you agree?

Thank you very much for any help that you can provide.

Sincerely,

Peter James Brock.

pjbrock@shaw.ca

Diversions, diversions

While I usually have to hunt around for snippets to inspire entries, I’ve noticed that the ToDo list is beginning to grow a little, as goodies appear and get pushed into abeyance.

My apologies to anyone contributing that wonders if anything’s been dropped. It’s just sitting in a queue that seems to be growing instead of shrinking.

The reason is the recent discovery of some folders of pics from about 5 years ago, lost when they got themselves at the bottom of a file with some unrelated docs on top of them. With some major, life-altering upheavals taking place then, they had little chance of being noticed, though their absence didn’t help either – I just thought missing pics I thought I should have been able to put my hands on were just imagined, by way of wishful thinking of places I’d rather have been at the time.

The problem is that given the date, it should be obvious that they’re film, so no encoded EXIF dates or other info. Fortunately, nearly all my trips are logged and stored by GPS, so places and dates can be recovered from those files. I wrote a home expenses system some years back, and it includes where and when stuff was bought, and there’s a separate travel log, digitally recorded for business expenses. Write a bit of code to glue the three together, and things aren’t as impossible as they might seem.

Of course, there is a downside. Having been meaning to write the linking code for years, now that I have, I can see that there are inconsistencies in the results, with some pics showing dates that don’t match with the logs of where I was on that date. Did I mention I hate broken data in a database? I may be gone for some time…

But, I’ve been coerced onto too many time-management courses (that I personally thought were largely a waste of time)  to forget the important things, so rest assured, I will still be here, if a little diverted.

Lest we forget

Many items featured on our site date back to the time remembered, and we must never forget the debt we owe to those who took part, especially today, when it seems that what they gave their lives for is now being slowly eroded.

Picture courtesy of The Royal British Legion.

Legion Values

• Reflection - Through Remembrance of past sacrifice in the cause of freedom
• Hope - By remembering the past, a younger generation has the chance of a better future
• Comradeship - Through shared experience and mutual support
• Selflessness - By putting others first
• Service - To those in need and in support of the whole community

Forum upgrade

Trivial, but the forum’s core software was upgraded yesterday, and while the process itself went smothly (as it always does with the ultra-reliable and dependable E-Blah), the same can’t be said of the arrival of IE7 at the same time.

While everything worked happily as it had before and after the arrival and upgrade of Firefox 1.5 to 2.0, viewing certain sections of the forum in IE7 showed some disticntly lop-sided alignment of previously happy sections.

Fair comment on the guys that look after the code, when I raised the observation, they posted a fix for the html template that defines the forum layout, and all was well and back to normal in IE7 after a few minutes editing.

Since I was fiddling with the settings, I added a few more amusing smileys to, so if you’ve used the Extra Smileys link and been disappointed in the past when nothing appeared, you should be a bit happier now .

Ardyne Point and Portavadie

Came across some interesting info for a couple of locations that seemed to merit inclusion thanks to their past history and connection with the boom years of Scotland’s oil industry.

Ardyne Point was supposed to see the construction of dozens of oil platforms, and seems to have managed a grand total of three in its lifetime. It’s said that labour relations there were rather poor, partly because the management didn’t know how to deal with their workers, recruited from the dying shipyards of the Clyde, who were forever walking off the job. Sounds like a familiar story, and similar to that recounted when labour relations are discussed with regard to the ill-fated Linwood car factory, which drew its labour force from the same source.

Portavadie was supposed to do the same, and consumed £millions of taxpayer’s money for the same reason, and produced an equally impressive total of zero platforms, and attracted no business to the area, other than its own construction.

Robert Sowry and Orica

It might be worth mentioning that Secret Scotland is just a few interested folk recording (hopefully) interesting items about Scotland, and none of us have any connections with any of the subjects featured.

That said, we can still offer the odd Gem of Wisdom, and note that when enquiring about job opportunities at places featured, it may be preferable (for the CV) not to mention that the enquiry form didn’t have the Return email address filled in – we don’t like to ignore anyone that makes the effort though, so hope the sender is looking here, as well as the main site, and spots the reply.