South Somerset District Council’s Community Heritage Access Centre (CHAC) in Yeovil are pleased to receive a donation of a photograph of Air Raid Patrol (ARP) Wardens in the town during World War II, donated by one of the people pictured in it.
Previously, the centre only held one photograph of an individual ARP warden in Yeovil, so this photograph starts to fill a considerable gap in the collection and helps piece together Yeovil’s history during World War II.
Mr John Chesney who donated the photograph unfortunately cannot remember the names of the other ARP Wardens in the photograph. Mr Chesney is pictured in the photo himself; located third from left in the back row.
Clare Robinson, Heritage Co-ordinator at CHAC said, “If anyone recognises a family member in the photograph, please contact me on 01935 462881 and I will pass the information on to Mr Chesney. We would love for Mr Chesney to be able to put names to faces from the past”.
Mr Chesney was evacuated from London to Yeovil in 1940 at the age of 14 and became a messenger boy for the group which had its base in Highfield Road. Later on, Mr Chesney joined the Home Guard in Yeovil but unfortunately doesn’t have any photographs from his time with them.
Councillor Sylvia Seal, Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Culture said, “Our heritage service do a fantastic job when appealing for information about people and objects, but they can’t complete the job without the help of you – the public. If you know any information about this World War II photograph, please let us know. We want to piece together Yeovil’s history and help Mr Chesney remember his past”.