September 2010 - RAF Regiment Association Official Website

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You will all by now have with your latest
copy of “The Flash”, received a booking form
and with its superb location and military
connections it is sure to be a great hit so get your
bookings in early. This majestic Grade II castle
with spectacular views of the North Wales
coastline is home to the National Portrait
Gallery’s Victorian Collection. It is set amid
beautiful woodlands and sensory gardens, less
than an hour from the Snowdonia National Park.
With its magnificent views stretching to
the Clwydian Hills and its feast of live
entertainment on offer, this is a hotel where you
can really spoil yourself. Outside, the beautifullytended
grounds include a maze, an aviary and a
tranquil woodland walk.
The scenery could best be described as
magnificent and dramatic. It is just under an hour
from Chester, 10 minutes from the seaside town
of Rhyl, and half an hour away from the Victorian
Pier at Llandudno. As well as being a historic
house and museum with a free audio tour
available, the Castle also boasts large areas of
formal garden and natural woodland.
A particular feature is the area of practice
trenches dating from the First World War. In
1914, the house that a century earlier had been
designed to look like a castle was requisitioned by
the army for nearby Kinmel Barracks.
Within the grounds, there is a reminder of
the Great War years. Training was an important
activity during the First World War (1914-1918).
It helped to prepare newly recruited soldiers many
of whom had never considered the intricacies of
'modern' warfare. The local training camp for the
area was Kinmel Park Camp, which is located not
too far from the Castle. The camp has operated
for many years but is remembered by many as the
camp where the infamous riots took place after the
First World War.
The training trenches are located in the
Bodelwyddan Castle Parkland. A set of
interpretive panels will be available shortly that
will provide information on what it was like to be
a soldier living, fighting and dying in the trenches
and illustrations of how the trenches were
constructed.
BELTON PARK
Now for a couple of reports from Hughie
Cooper the Branch Research Co-ordinator who
visited the site of the first RAF Regiment Depot
Belton Park, Lincolnshire and on the following
day visited the NMA.
At the beginning of World War I, like
many other British landowners, the 3rd Earl
Brownlow offered his house and park to the
Government for war service. The offer was
accepted, and in 1915, the home depôt and
training ground of the Machine Gun Corps were
established in the southern part of Belton Park.
The lie of the land there, where the River
Witham passes between the Lower Lincolnshire
Limestone and the Upper Lias mudstone, lent
itself to the development of the necessary firing
ranges close to good communications by way of
the Great North Road and the East Coast main
line railway station at Grantham.
The depôt was closed in 1919, the site
cleared and the land restored to Lord Brownlow in
1920. Little sign of the Machine Gun Corps's stay
remains in the park, but plaques and inscriptions
can be followed from the south gate of Belton
park to the memorial gate on the way from there
to the town centre and in the north aisle of
Grantham parish church.
Belton Park again saw war service during
World War II.
On the formation of the RAF
Regiment in 1942 the park became the first home
of the Regiment, when soon afterwards it moved
to Belton where it was housed in nissen huts in
the park. In January 1984 as a result of death
duties, coupled with the rising costs of the
upkeep, made Belton too much for the Brownlow
family and ownership of the house, garden and
some of the contents was transferred to the
National Trust.
OUR VISIT TO BELTON PARK
14 th August 2010
By Hughie Cooper
When I first heard about this event we
decided to go and at the same time, as they lived
in the same area, meet two of my brothers. When
we were discussing the visit, one of them said that
they could do with some rain in Lincolnshire as in
July; they had only had 5 mm of rain whereas in
other areas they had 134 mm.
I told them their worries were over as the
RAF Regiment would solve their problem, for in
my experience at various Regiment functions,
particularly ceremonial events, it always seemed
to rain. Were therefore arranged to meet at
Sleaford and then travel down to Belton Park for
the Saturday and Saturday if weather permitted,