Unprepossessing heaven

It may not have been a thing of beauty, but to a Crickley digger at the end of a long, hot, hard-labouring day, the sight of the Ablutions block in the early evening was welcome together with the knowledge that soon you could scrub away the grime of the day. Even a wash in a basin was bliss, let alone the heaven of a shower on the days when it was your turn to have one. From Mike Sims 2004 end of Ullenwood series.

Forlorn Dormitory

The interior of one of the dormitories taken by Mike Sims in summer 2004. Did we not enjoy the finest luxury?

Married quarters ...

Another Mike Sims shot of the huts at Ullenwood in July 2004 as the wrecking took place. These are the huts at the top of the camp on the left that were sometimes allocated as married quarters. This picture could be an allegory for the state of the UK economy. Actually, come to think of it, the huts aren't in that bad a state ...

Ullenwood deconstructed

C-H-M has a feeling that this building round the back at Ullenwood was used for training Gloucestershire Fire Brigade personnel but has no idea where that suspicion comes from. From Mike Sims's 2004 series as Ullenwood was under the wrecking ball. Update from Dr Phillpotts: "The Fire Brigade thing used to be part of the "Drains" lecture by Richard Savage - closely followed a dire warning to keep away from it and the radio tower."

The morning after the night before ...

This is just about how C-H-M feels in the aftermath of the post-practical-cooking-examination celebrations yesterday. Food was served on time and whether or not it was beautifully cooked and met the exacting standard will be revealed in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, a lie-down is in order and this Mike Sims 2004 Ullenwood dormitory photo seemed somehow appropriate ...

Nature reclaims it own

It doesn't take long for an abandoned site to become seriously overgrown as nature takes it course: here, in one of Mike Sims's 2004 series taken at Ullenwood, one gets the feeling that, with another decade or two, no demolition crew would have been needed by the new owner to eliminate most traces of the camp. I suspect that wouldn't apply to the bunker, but there wouldn't be much left of the dormitories.

Ancient wrecks, Noaksie & and a miscarriage of justice

The old hangar at Ullenwood always held the promise of fascinating contents: as can be seen in this Mike Sims 2004 shot there were all sorts of oddities inside including ancient rotting motor vehicles.

Updates from readers: Corky Gregory says: "I will make a stab at a guess as to what Noaksie is doing in the photo Nov 4 that also appeared July 2. I would guess Maori warrior stance but Noaksie leaned more toward Australia rather than New Zealand so aboriginal stance?? Still looks like Maori warrior to me but no idea what he is holding other than it looks like white PVC piping with decorative ends." Ah, good idea but not quite on the mark I'm afraid, Corky. All will be revealed in due course.

C-H-M has inadvertently perpetrated a miscarriage of justice and owes Les Capon an apology and a beer or two for the damage to his reputation caused by the publication last Sunday of one of Jill Hummerstone's photos.

Les writes: "That picture of a sleeping in person is not me. Jill took the picture, but I have to say I never slept in, lazed or was late ever at Crickley, and such a suggestion is absurd. Please change the caption. [Done! Ed.] Jill thought it may be someone called Mark...

I do recall Jo Sturgess (Notts Uni 1990s) trying to encourage a Spaniard to get up, only to discover him being inappropriate with himself. And there was another time when a banana skin appeared in our tent on the same day another Spaniard skived. Then there was the Frenchman Serge who was pulled up by the police for breaking the speed limit on Leckhampton Hill on roller skates. (note from Jill: this all sounds a bit anti-European) (response from Les - if Jill hadn't jumped on me, I'd have chatted up a Spaniard) (Jill: Whatever, in your dreams.)

Hope your foodie course is going well. Any vegetarian tips?"

My apologies to Les for traducing him and I'll find a yummy vegetarian recipe for next week's catering tip of the week!

Demolition crew at Ullenwood

Now that looks like a boy's toy with which one could have some serious fun. This photo, taken by Mike Sims in the summer of 2004, shows the demolition crew from Smiths, with their hydraulic grab, putting the boot into the huts which ran up the left hand side of Ullenwood from the front gate.

Just before the final destruction

Another of Mike Sims's' July 2004 series when he recorded the demolition of Ullenwood for posterity. All the contents of the mess hall were thrown out in an untidy pile before the final razing to the ground began. Sad sight.

And the weeds grew tall at Ullenwood

C-H-M can't quite believe it's the end of August already. But here's a summer picture from Mike Sims of nature reclaiming dormitories 1 and 2 at Ullenwood in 2004. Already pretty overgrown.

And all that was left ...

"And all that was left was the beak and the feathers," read in a mournful tone, was the last line of a children's story that C-H-M remembers from his early years. Not much more survives of this building at Ullenwood shown in one of Mike Sims's 2004 photos. I suspect that this was the establishment second on the left as you entered the camp which Terry Courtney used to stay in. Must have been some party to emerge in this state.

The dormitories and ablutions

Click on image to enlarge

Ullenwood not quite as you ever saw it: a compilation of five of Mike Sims's photos taken in 2004 to create a panorama of the four dormitories and the ablutions block at Ullenwood: Dorms 4 & 3 on the left, the ablutions in the middle and dorms 1 & 2 on the right. At the very end on the right can just be seen the mess hall and the overflow dormitory.

I'd like a nuclear bunker for Christmas, please, daddy ...

This pair of photos by Mike Sims shows the Ullenwood bunker, wrapped up like a Christmas present, when all else at the site was being demolished in the summer of 2004. Presumably the new owner calculated that it would be easier and less expensive to bury the bunker and landscape it than to demolish it, which would have been an astonishingly hard task.

It would also have been a sad end for a Cold War relic, the existence of which the government of the day was not prepared to confirm, as late as 1981, as the following extract from Hansard shows:

"WARTIME HEADQUARTERS

HL Deb 20 October 1981 vol 424 cc744-5WA

744WA

§Lord Jenkins of Putney asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether one of the bunkers at Ullenwood near Cheltenham has become Sub-Region H.Q. No. 72; whether Bolt Head near Salcombe is the seat of Regional Government 7 or Sub-Regional H.Q. No. 71; whether Sub-Regional H.Q. No. 31 at Skendelby, Lincolnshire, is currently manned, and who will occupy this deep bunker in the event of nuclear war.

745WA

§Lord Belstead It is not in the public interest to provide information on current plans for the location of wartime headquarters. They are not staffed in peacetime. In a war emergency each would be manned by representatives of key departments and services under the control of a Minister."

The Final Curtain ...

Another in Mike Sims's series taken in the last days at Ullenwood in 2004. In the distance, on the left, is the kitchen and the mess hall or dining room. On the right, the building that some alleged had been a laundry from examination of the surviving pipework. Mr Boden correctly recalls that this end of that building, as we look at it, was usually inhabited by the catering staff, presumably so that they didn't have to stagger too far to put the porridge on. In the foreground small piles of rubble mark the accommodation habitually assigned to Terry Courtney. It is otherwise completely obliterated. Not so much as a curtain ring or a bedspring remains ...

Dear old Ullenwood ...

I'm gradually working my way through scanning the many photographs that people entrusted to me over the reunion weekend. Mike Sims very kindly lent C-H-M the photos he took in the summer of 2004 just as Ullenwood was being demolished. It's almost brought tears to my eyes to see some of the destruction wrought upon the place, but we're very lucky that Mike had the foresight to capture the camp on camera just before its final demise.

Here's a splendid spliced-together shot of the dormitories from the top end looking back down towards the mess hall. I can't work out what the climber is that's grown all the way up the back of Dorm 4 but there's plenty of Rosebay Willowherb (Epilobium Angustifolium) growing between the dormitories as it always did. Curious how much affection one can feel for some old bits of corrugated iron ...

You might remember this ....

After the picnic in August 2004 some of us were unable, on the way home, to resist a small diversion up Greenway Lane to examine the state of Ullenwood Camp. It was partly demolished and the scene of the devastation that greeted us I posted last July . Two rather better pictures, taken by Professor Dixon appeared in October and December. John Boden's picture of the ablutions, seen here in May, shows them in all their finery in their heyday, slightly foxed, in 1975.

This morning's photograph is of the sign that I retrieved from the sad wreckage as a memento. When I picked it up out of the rubble I imagined it in my mind's eye that it was on the outside of the ablutions block. J. B.'s photograph shows that my memory plays me false because the sign in his photograph reads "Gentlemen Ablutions" and is clearly in white letters on a blue background. So my souvenir either must have come from somewhere else other than the outside of the ablutions block (more likely) or the signage changed after 1975 (less likely). Perhaps it was on the entrance door itself? Or maybe there was another loo I've forgotten about.

The usual suspects rounded up ...

The picnic on 7 August 2004 from the Dixon album. Amongst the throng, Malc White's lads, John Parry, Iain Ferris Terry Courtney, Richard Savage, Joanne Vaughan, Kath & Jim Irvine amongst a cluster of people whose names escape me, I'm afraid - sorry - Steve Vaughan, Julian Parker, Mike Sims and Malc White.  Whose is the old English sheepdog? 

It must have been some party ...

Dorm 3 the morning after a spectacular diggers' party that got a wee bit out of hand after slightly too much scrumpy? Alas no, this very beautiful, but rather sad shot, was taken by Phil at Ullenwood after the picnic on 7 August 2004 just as the final destruction of Ullenwood camp was in progress.

Some of the usual suspects at the 2004 picnic ...

L to R: John and Julie Gale, Nick Snashall and Ros Cleal cool off in the shade: 7 August 2004. Other photos from that day are here and here and here and here.  My thanks to PWD for sending me this one.

The 7 August 2004 post-picnic hill tour

Two of mine from the 7 August 2004 reunion, less elegantly arranged than Phil's which is here. 

Top, L to R: Terry Courtney, Phil Dixon, Ros Cleal, Paul Noakes, Jim Irvine, Nick Snashall, Malcolm White and Chris Phillpotts's hand. 

Bottom, L to R: Paul Noakes, Malcolm White, Terry Courtney, Mike Sims, Unknown (who's that bending over in front of Mike examining a plant?) Jim Irvine, Chris Phillpotts, John Gale, Ros Cleal, Pauline Dumbrill, Lucy Loveridge, Joanne Vaughan's left arm and leg, Don Mickley's left knee, Corky Gregory.

Views from the hill taken the same day are here.