Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2005-09-06 19:26:39 - Graham Ellis
It sometimes pays to look "outside of the box" and it sometimes needs someone else to see that there IS a box there in the first place.
We live on the outskirts of Melksham, near the site of the former RAF Melksham base which has now been developed into the Bowerhill part of the town; the former training station for new RAF recruits being, we were told being replaced with little trace. So when Lisa came to help produce the Bowerhill Calendar for 2006, she started with something of a dearth of information. Unsuprisingly, there aren't a lot of pictures of what was a military establishment, and as it was a training school and not a more "romantic" operational station, little was written or saved.
And yet. Start looking around and you'll see that there are some traces of the old RAF ... odd huts remain in the industrial area that was developed piecemeal, and the Christie Miller sports centre is (I understand) the old base Cinema. And walking around with some of the people who've lived on Bowerhill since its conversion, they point out a number of things. And they remember / comment on pictures they have from the earlier post RAF days when there were more remnants, and come up with new contacts and leads to follow.
Yes, Lisa IS still researching and looking for material but it's no longer a case of filling in white space; now, it's a question of improving what she has, and packing / adding in extras. The material's out there - it's just a question of looking beyond you see. I've put some more pictures from Bowerhill on our Wiki.
And yet. Start looking around and you'll see that there are some traces of the old RAF ... odd huts remain in the industrial area that was developed piecemeal, and the Christie Miller sports centre is (I understand) the old base Cinema. And walking around with some of the people who've lived on Bowerhill since its conversion, they point out a number of things. And they remember / comment on pictures they have from the earlier post RAF days when there were more remnants, and come up with new contacts and leads to follow.