This is a page of www.staffshomeguard.co.uk. To see full contents, go to SITE MAP.
The most recent addition was on 7th September 2006

This page deals with matters associated with the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion ONLY and the territory for which it was responsible:           Aldridge, Barr Beacon, Brownhills, Little           Aston, Pelsall, Pheasey, Rushall,           Shelfield, Streetly, Walsall Wood and           neighbouring areas. See also the 80 pages of memories and information published in 1945 by the Battalion's members.
FOR ALL OTHER INFORMATION     FOR ALL OTHER INFORMATION   ON THIS BATTALION     GO TO SITEMAP- link at foot of page -                                     and           EITHER follow links such as Index of         Names, Biographies or the book "Home         Guarding"         OR use the site Search facility ON THIS BATTALION	FOR INFORMATION  FOR INFORMATION ON ALL OTHER  HOME  GUARD UNITS     GO TO SITEMAP - link at foot of page -                         AND/OR follow the county links:               Staffordshire , Shropshire, Warwickshire,               Worcestershire and All Other Counties and Regions                          OR use the site Search facility.                ON ALL OTHER HG UNITS

************************************

THE BATTALION WITHIN THE COUNTY ORGANISATION......7th September 2006
How the 32nd Battalion fitted into the South Staffordshire Home Guard organisation.  
   
BATTALION OFFICERS
Click above for a list of officers attached to the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion in February 1941.

**************************************************************************

ALDRIDGE

A MEMORY OF ALDRIDGE HOME GUARD ........20th June 2006
Mr. Paul Bailey remembers his grandfather, Pte. E. Sleath, a member of the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion:

"........I can still see my grandfather cleaning his rifle, issued as part of his Home Guard duties, and I have his Defence Medal issued by Lieut-Col Cowan, Secretary of the Staffs TA Association to him, Pte E Sleath, after the war.

Some weekends the Home Guard (of modern 'Dad's Army' fame) would train in the local streets - jumping in and out of local gardens as they exercised. Very often they would make their way down Paddock Lane into Dumblederry Lane and over the canal bridge to fight a mock battle either side of the canal. Local children would follow knowing that any explosive thrown into the canal would stun the fish and bring them floating to the top..........."

© Paul Bailey 2005   To read the rest of this interesting memoir - which contains other memories of wartime Aldridge and Stafford - in its original setting, the BBC's excellent People's War Archive, please click here.    (You will leave this site.  WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar).

OTHER REFERENCES TO ALDRIDGE in this website.

************************************************************************

BARR BEACON
      For references within the website please click here.

*******************************************************************

BROWNHILLS
      For references within the website please click here.

*******************************************************************

LITTLE ASTON

LITTLE ASTON HALL and THE SCRIBBANS FAMILY ..... 22nd August 2005
We have received a request for memories of and further information about the role played by Little Aston Hall in the war years, when it and its owner Mrs. Ada Scribbans played host to "B" Coy. of the 32nd Battalion. The request comes from a member of the Scribbans family and may be viewed in GUEST BOOK .  If you can help, please make contact direct using the email address there, or via staffshomeguard.co.uk.

See also STREETLY below.

OTHER REFERENCES TO LITTLE ASTON in this website.

*******************************************************************

PELSALL  

A PLATOON OF "D" Coy., PELSALL (6)........20th February 2006
Click above to see this captioned photograph, taken probably in late 1941.

Pte. ALBERT SNAPE - "D" Coy., PELSALL (5) ........20th February 2006
Please click above to read the story of Pte. Snape's Home Guard service.

MEMORIES OF LIFE IN "D" Coy., 1942 - 1944 (3)
      by Reg. Neville ........ 6th August 2005
Please click the title above to read this excellent memoir which includes references to local personalities and places, personal experiences and much detail about Home Guard activities.

OTHER REFERENCES TO PELSALL in this website.

**************************************************************************

PHEASEY
      For references within the website please click here.

******************************************************************

RUSHALL         

Lt. I. COTTON, "G" Coy., RUSHALL (10).............8th April 2006
Click above to see information on this officer who left the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion to join the R.A.F.

No. 16 PLATOON, HELLIWELLS Ltd. (8).............19th March 2006
Click to view a picture of this platoon, based at Walsall Airport.

 Capt. THOMAS CHAPMAN, M.C. - "G" Coy., (7).......21st Feb. 2006
Here is information about Capt. Chapman, a Great War hero, a Headmaster (of Birchfield Road School, Perry Barr, Birmingham) and C.O. of "G" Coy., Rushall.

OTHER REFERENCES TO RUSHALL in this website.

**************************************************************************

SHELFIELD
      For references within the website please click here.

*******************************************************************

STREETLY

THE HOME GUARD BONFIRE, STREETLY (9)......22nd March 2006
A memory from May 1945. Click to read.

"A CHILD'S MEMORIES OF WW2".....4th June 2006
Mr. M.J. Butler makes the briefest of mentions of his father's membership of the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion in a BBC People's War Archive memoir which will be of great interest to anyone who knows the Streetly/Parson & Clerk/Kingstanding area. (2/Lt. J. Butler is listed as an officer within the 32nd Battalion in February 1941. He is presumably the father mentioned in this extract. No doubt his is also one of the many, so far unidentified faces pictured here in 1943. Streetly Works - The Streetly Manufacturing Co. - provided much support to the local Home Guard, as mentioned elsewhere on this site).

"....When being taken to the shelter I remember the engine noise of the German bombers - quite different from those we would hear later when the RAF Wellingtons and Lancasters flew over on their way to Germany. We lived opposite Sutton Park and remember being told that, on moonlit nights, the German bombers could take a 'fix' from the pools in Sutton Park to reach their target, down Chester Road to the Spitfire factory. Am I right in believing that some of these pools were drained in an attempt to foil the bombers? It may have worked as we had both incendiaries and high explosives land just inside the Park with the 'Parson and Clerk' pub across the road from us losing their windows one night.

Dad - who was a Lieutenant in the Home Guard at Streetly Works and blocked, notably by his Chairman, from joining up - took me onto the roof of our air raid shelter on one of the nights, the night that Coventry was bombed; it was something I had to see, he said. We lived well over 20 miles away and I remember clearly the sky being bright red from the flames......"

© M.J. Butler 2005    To read the rest of Mr. Butler's memoir, entitled A Child's Memories of WWII, please click here.  (You will leave this site.  WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)

32nd BATTN. WEAPONRY: A SMALL BOY'S VIEW (4)  .. 12th September 2005
Please click on the above title to read this memoir.

MEMORIES OF "B" Coy., MAY 1940 to JUNE 1942 (2) 
     by Graham C. Myers ............ 3rd July 2005
Please click the title above to read the complete fascinating memoir - includes references to Little Aston.

A HOME GUARD PLATOON
The story of a Streetly/Little Aston Platoon from formation in May/June 1940 until stand-down in December 1944, as recorded in early 1945.

OTHER REFERENCES TO STREETLY in this website.

***************************************************************************
WALSALL WOOD
      For references within the website please click here.

*******************************************************************

WHO and WHERE?