Filton Community History: Twenty Years of Local Research

After 20 years of research, the Filton Community History Group closed in 2018. Some notable contributions included the BAC 100 (Bristol Aeroplane Company) oral history project, the Millennium Schools Project, and the ‘Inspiring Women’ exhibition for South Gloucestershire Council. All these successful projects have connected the local community of Filton to their rich and proud history. Jane Tozer, Treasurer of Filton Community History Group looks back on the group's achievements. 

Pill Boxes in the South West: a Neglected Heritage?

"While popular memory associates the summer of 1940 with debonair young men in Spitfires duelling the Luftwaffe in the sky, there was frantic building activity going on below in preparation for the expected German invasion. Eugene Byrne looks at some of the defence works made in anticipation of the ground war in the west of England".

Scouting in Weston-Super-Mare and the War: a local study of the 24th Weston-Super-Mare boy scout troop during World War II 1942-45

War time Britain saw the decline of ‘Scouting’ on a national level, but the boy-scout group at Weston-Super-Mare thrived. In this local study, Duncan Biddulph explores the factors that contributed to the success of the Hill Road Scout Troop. A sense of comradeship between the boy-scouts and their leaders, most of whom had close ties with local churches and schools, seems to have been a key aspect. This article offers a window into life in Weston-Super-Mare during the war, highlighting its strong community spirit.