Ganger Camp Woodley, Romsey

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Romsey Advertiser report on US helicopter at Ganger 1957

One of the largest helicopters in the world, a Vertol H.21 belonging to the United States Air Force, a 22-seater twin rotor, single engine aircraft force-landed near Ganger Camp on Tuesday afternoon. It spent nearly 21 hours in a field on Ganger Farm the home of Mr. L. S. Marshall. The red and silver machine which looks something like a banana with rotors at either end is one of four in this country and is based at Wethersfield, near Braintree, in Essex. It is over 52ft long, 16ft. high, has a rotor diameter of 44ft. and a maximum speed in the region of 120 miles an hour.  

On Tuesday morning it set out from its base with a crew of four to fly to Exeter. It was piloted by Lt. N. F. Eldridge who had as his co-pilot Lt. E, V, Matthews and his two engineers were Sgts, H. G. Arnold and J. L. Banks, all of the United States Air Force. The machine was re-fuelled at Greenham Common near Newbury where the ILS. Air Force has a jet bomber base, but the Navigator mapped out a course to try and avoid the weather which was “clamping” down and this is why the machine came to be in the Romsey area when the weather became so bad and visibility so poor that it was decided to look for an emergency landing place.  

The pilot told the “Advertiser” representative that he saw a stretch of land below him, and intended when he got lower to land in one field, but before he touched down he realised that it was growing corn and decided to land in the field next to it. When the machine was on the ground the storm burst in all its fury and the crew sheltered in it until the rain had abated and the pilot took steps to inform his base of his whereabouts. The police were also informed.  

The two sergeants returned to the machine about 10 a.m. and in their capacity as engineers checked the various items of equipment. Then the two pilots checked the rotors and took their seats. And at 10.45 a.m. the helicopter rose into the air and continued its interrupted journey to Exeter.  

It is one of the machines of the 23rd Helicopter Squadron which has its headquarters at Falsburg, France.

 Romsey Advertiser report on British Helicopter at Ganger  1957

British Helicopter Arrives   During the afternoon a single rotor helicopter from Middle Wallop flew over and noticing the large machine on the ground landed next to it. After being informed that all was well the British pilot went off again. The two officers spent the night at the White Horse Hotel, Romsey, while the two N.C.O.s made themselves snug with blankets from the hotel inside the machine. The officers had an early breakfast and then immediately hurried back to Ganger Camp by taxi to relieve the two sergeants who returned to the town by the same taxi to have breakfast, a wash and shave at the hotel. A tribute came from one of the sergeants. who when asked if he had had a good breakfast replied. “Yes, and l have had a good cup of coffee, too, one of the best l have ever had in this country.”

The camp is mentioned in the autobiography of Lady Pamela Hicks:

“At thirteen and home for the summer holidays….” near Romsey, 1943. While out doing errands in the neighbourhood; “Our route often took us by the local prisoner-of-war camp, known as ‘Ganger Camp’, which housed Italian and German POWs. The camp’s… huts were well defended behind tall wire fences with gun batteries and a machine-gun post, and when the prisoners were out working on the local farms, they were watched over by a soldier with a gun. On one occasion, I noticed a Tommy reach into his pocket for a light. Fumbling a little, he passed his gun to a prisoner to hold for him while he lit his cigarette. He took a long, relaxed puff, then stuck out his arm, and his gun was gently handed back.

After I had been making the daily journey into Romsey for a couple of weeks, a young Italian hailed me from a field. To my utter surprise he presented me with a ring made out of shiny metal. I felt my cheeks heat up as I stammered a thank-you in my best Italian. It was the first ring I had ever been given, and when I examined it in the privacy of my room, I was amazed to see how intricate it was, how the man had somehow carved a little pattern on it. I never saw him again but I wore the ring proudly. Every prisoner could work if he so wished. Most helped on local farms, hedging, ditching, and doing seasonal chores, and they became very much part of the landscape, as our farmworkers were away at war.”

 (Daughter of Empire: My Life as a Mountbatten. Lady Pamela Hicks. 2012. Simon and Schuster

Romsey Advertiser Report 1948

Ganger Camp For Housing  

31 Huts to be Taken Over by Rural District Council

ACCOMMODATION FOR 54 FAMILIES

Romsey and Stockbridge Rural District Council are to take over a portion of the former German prisoner-of-war camp at Ganger Farm for the provision of temporary housing accommodation. This was made known at the meeting of the Council on Monday when it was reported that. a meeting of the Finance and General Purposes committee had been held just prior to the Council meeting to discuss the matter.  

The suggestion had come from the Principal Housing Officer of the Ministry of Health who stated that part of the camp had now become redundant to service needs and was available for transfer to other Government departments. The Building Surveyor reported that there were 31 huts in very good condition which could he adopted to provide 56 units of accommodation and that there was a main water supply, electric lighting and a sewage disposal plant on the site. A Sub-Committee, comprising Messrs. C B Scott, J R Bright, E E Hoddinott, R H Diment  and  W Wilcox and Captain J Hayter, were appointed to inspect the camp together with the Building Surveyor and Sanitary Inspector and the District Estate Surveyor. They thoroughly recommended the adaptation of the huts for housing purposes and the Building Surveyor was instructed to prepare a plan and specification for submission to the Ministry of Health for approval. “These huts are not available yet." said Mr Hale reporting to the Council. “They have to be adapted and we don't want to he inundated with applications before we are ready to receive them."

Romsey Advertiser Report 1950

Are Ganger Camp Folk Social Outcasts?

GANGER TENANTS' VIEWS

You can go into a shop in Romsey and order something costing a few pounds, said a housewife at Ganger Camp, 'and they will be all smiles, asking where to send it. When you tell them Ganger Camp- you can see their attitude change at once, as they think 'Will they pay?' It's very embarrassing for all of us I'm not the only one to notice it."

This was the view of several camp residents, who would like to see the name of the ex P.O.W. camp changed, now that it has become a housing estate a view expressed during an "Advertiser" visit on Tuesday, following R.D.C. action recently in this and other camps. It was good to find, when asking tenants what they thought of the camp, that, on the whole, they were quite well pleased with it, the main objection being the lack of privacy. Other complaints were of the small amount of space between the huts although most agreed that they had adequate space when actually in them and the lack of somewhere safe for the children to play.  

Several people, however; were quite well satisfied as it was, one of them being Mr. J. Burnett, who said that as far as he was concerned the camp was all right and there was plenty of room at No. 23 for the seven in his family. His sister, Mrs. Joliffe, did not altogether agree, as she did not like the lack of privacy. The walls of the huts, she said, were very thin, and people could not only hear every word spoken by the neighbours on each side, but everyone had to have the wireless on as low as it would go unless they wanted everyone else to have the same programme. Anyone could hold a conversation with these in the hut next door. As the windows of each hut were exactly opposite those in the next, one could see through three buildings when the lights were on.

Mrs. Joliffe, also thought that the huts should have something in the way of gardens, as the roadway ran directly past the doorstep, so that it was dangerous for anyone, especially children coming out of the door, whilst in the summer so much dust was raised by traffic going to the further part of the camp that all the windows had to be closed. She had been in the camp for a year and a half, how-ever, actually found that the hut itself was quite comfortable.

Nearby is hut No. 79, which was not at all comfortable, according to Mrs. J K. Webb. In the severe   storm recently water came into the building to make it about two or three inches deep in water on the floor, so that she was throwing it outside with a bucket, while her neighbour, Mrs. Young was in a worse plight Several huts had suffered in this way, although the majority were fairly watertight. Mrs. Webb remarked that a number of people brought new linoleum up with them on entering the camp, and, as the floors were concrete, had to put sacking underneath. The water came up through the floor and at the bottom of the walls, and the lino floated on top.  

SATISFIED

A completely satisfied tenant was Mrs. Harman of No. 17, who said she had been in the place for. a year and that was long enough to know what it was like. She had plenty of room in the hut (families of different sizes are allotted varying numbers of rooms in the long huts, which are split generally into two or three units), liked her neighbours, and did not mind the noise of the children playing almost on her doorstep. Her living room was fitted up very nicely, and, contrary to some ideas about the huts, there were pictures on the walls. Her daughter in-law at No. 11 Mrs. I Harman, did not like the place at all and complained of the lack of privacy. The bedrooms were in a row, she said, so that at bed-time they could hear everyone talking. She suggested that if anything were to be done to make the huts permanent dwellings perhaps every alternate one could be knocked down and the rest kept on, and this would give much more space, which was what they needed. There were no leaks at No. 11 except for a small one in a bedroom. ..

REFINED  

Some tenants have reclaimed small patches of garden from the roadway between the huts.

Mrs. B A. Dittrich, of No. 52 (47), with eight children besides herself and her husband, found the accommodation problem more difficult than most. Down at the far end of the camp, she complained of the smell of the sewage, when the wind blew towards them from it, and several other people agreed with this. Asked what she thought of the camp, she remarked tactfully that you "couldn’t exactly call it refined." It was gloomy all the time and, of course, there were no real gardens, as they paid only for the actual living accommodation and the electricity. She, too, wanted somewhere tor the children to play, as there was not much room between the huts for them, and the only places they could use were the fields behind the camp -- or the road — which was hardly fair to the younger ones.        

THE CHILDREN  

The problem of the children was a big one for almost every tenant. There are 70-odd huts occupied now. And soon the larger ones near the entrance will be used for permanent accommodation. Most people agreed that three children to each hut was a fair average, and although, of course, this is a rough figure. it looks as if there are About 200 children there now, of school age and under.

This as they pointed out is almost enough for a small village, at any rate a school and for all these children there is not even a patch of ground where they can play in safety. Several householders pointed out however, that no one can expect that much for 39/- or so that they pay a week. and they are really entitled only to the huts, as they do not in fact pay even pay the small piece of garden, which some of them have wanted from the runways.

I was shown the hut which it is proposed to use for a social centre, a rather discouraging dull green Nissan hut. There is no floor, not many windows, and only a door and a half. Tenants who wanted to rent one hut for use as a community centre met with courtesy and co-operation from the Rural District Council, but the Ministry would not allow the use of a hut which might house a family, although it was fur the benefit all those already there. This cuts both ways, as the tenants themselves pointed out, but the of main thing is the proposal that of they shall pay 3/6 a week and "take the hut as they find it”, according to  the only decision the R.D.C. could make.

Taking it as they find it means putting in floor before they can do anything else, and that means £15', even if they supply their own labour. Then there will still be no chairs, tables, curtains. or any other fittings.

The camp is divided between those who say they could do something to the but if they could raise some money, and those who point out that they cannot raise the money until they have the hut to hold some function and this seems to bring them to a dead end.  

SOCIAL LIFE NEEDED  

If money is forthcoming, they can do something to improve what is now a mere shell dumped on bare earth and there will then be, if their dreams come true, darts, dominoes and billiards for the men, socials and parties, a cosy chat for the ladies. Christmas parties and summer outings for the children,, and in short, some kind of social life for the few hundred people there.  

As one housewife said, it is bad enough in summer, but in winter the vista of nothing but one block but after another, with early dusk, and no pubs or clubs, gets on one's nerves.  

Not many women, I was told, go out to work, as apart from the fact that they are not so badly off as those in the more expensive Reema houses, there is nowhere for them to put there children during the day.

 Another complaint was that the huts are badly insulated so that it is very cold in winter and very hot in summer, while tenant after tenant repeated that the camp had been given a bad name in the days of prisoners-of-war and foreign agricultural workers, and that now ordinary people were forced to live there because of the housing shortage they were treated as pariahs.

This is Ganger Camp according to the residents who are, an far as can be seen, about the fairest and least biased of any group of Council tenants in the area. Ganger is in a sense the Cinderella of the housing estates, as tenancies are open for anyone from the rural district.

Therefore, although the site is in Romsey Extra, and the Councilors for that area look after them, they belong to none of the parishes in particular, and are nobody's baby. In the words of another of the camp housewives, in a case like that the responsibility attached to the camp should be “not mine, not thine, but ours.”

Romsey Advertiser report, September 1956

THIRTY HUTTED CAMP OCCUPIERS TO GO TO HILLYFIELDS

District Council gradually solving thorny problem

Thirty new council houses, l7 Three bed-roomed at 27/- per week plus rates, and l3 two bed-roomed at 24/- per week plus rates, will be occupied by those in hutted accommodation mainly at Luzborough and Ganger Camps- and the Rest Centre-s at North Вaddesley and Rownhams

This news was given in detail in a report of the Improvement Grants Sub-Committee of the Housing Committee presented at a meeting of the Romseу and Stockbridge Rural District Council on Monday.

The report stated that a letter had been read from Mr. G. Crowther (Ampfield) stressing the need of the occupiers of the Ampfield hutments for permanent housing accommodation. He had suggested that some of the Hillyfields houses should be allotted to them. The Sub-Committee (its action was endorsed) decided to allocate the Council houses to those in most need.

Col. W. F. R. Webb (Sherfield English) had written suggesting that а list should be prepared showing how many occupiers of hutted camps came from outside areas, from whence they came and where they were working and suggesting that in the cases where persons were not previously residing in the district they should be housed by the authorities where they had previously lived.

The Clerk to the Council (Mr. W. A. Tanner) had told the Sub-Committee that the Ministry of Housing and Local Government had urged local authorities to allocate accommodation to occupiers of hutted camps who had, by residence, established a claim to have their housing needs considered as part of the general needs of the area in which they now reside.

А total of 247 families had occupied hutted accommodation administered by the Council at one period but that number of families had been reduced to 89. The occupiers of hutted accommodation at the А Camp at Nursling, F Camp at Houghton and the Rest Centre huts at Chilworth had been re-housed and the sites had been or would now be requisitioned.

After considering a list prepared by the Sanitary Inspector of the 8 present occupiers of the hutted camps administered by the Council the Sub-Committee recommended the 30 houses at Hillyfields to be allocated to the following:

Seventeen three bed-roomed Council houses:-

Edwards. Mrs. F., 63 Ganger Camp;

Edwards. Mrs. l. M., 67 Ganger Camp;

Harman. F.W. E., 75 Ganger Camp;

Jones. J. H., 68 Ganger Camp;

Osborne. А. W., 91 Ganger Camp;

Snowden R., 72 Ganger Camp;

Stevens. G. A.‚ 73 Ganger Camp;

Betteridge. M. W., 1 Luzborough Camp;

Callen F. R., 9A Luzborough Camp:

Wale. E. G. C., l Rest Centre, North Ваddesley.

Sillence N. H. J., 2 Rest Centre, North Baddesley

Stratton. D., 4 Rest Centre. North Baddesley;

Grey. J., 5 Rest Centre. Rownhams;

Nut. Mr. C., 2A Rest Centre. Rownhams;

Rowell. R., 3a Rest Centre Rownhams;

Thomas. C. А. D., 49 The Crescent, Over Wallop;

Upton. P., 41 The Crescent, Over Wallop;

Reserves:-

Jewer. A. L., 98 Ganger Camp;

Legg. A. W., 93 Ganger Camp:

Jones. D., 100 Ganger Camp;

Меehan. J., 90 Ganger Camp.

Thirteen two bed roomed council houses:-

Aberneathy, W., 39 Ganger Саmр;

Bartram. S., 1O1 Ganger Camp;

Conway. R., 95 Ganger Camp;

Murphy, Mrs. F., 99 Ganger Camp:

Burnett. J., 14 Luzborough Camp:

Hedges. H., 2 Luzborough Camp;

Linnett. W. F., 4A Luzborough Camp;

Luffman, С.‚ 8A Luzborough Camp;

Johnson. Mrs. M. E., 7A Luzborough Camp;

Russell. E. A., 12 Luzborough Camp;

Taylor. Н. F., 3 Rest Centre, North Baddesley;

Wiliams. Mrs., L. G., 4 Rest Centre, Rownhams;

Young, G. H., 2 Rest Centre, Rownhams.

Bartlett H., 3 Rest Centre, Rownhams;

Reserves:-

Ray, Mrs. O. B., 52 Ganger Camp;

Caunter. J., 53 Ganger Camp.

Sillence, R. G., 5A Rest Centre, Rownhams;

In open Council

The Sub-Committee's report was in due course presented to the Health and Housing Committee and was adopted after which it was presented to the full Council by its chairman (Mr. С. В. Scott) on Monday. It was adopted after a short discussion.

Mr. Crowther said that he would like briefly to refer to the position of the hutted camps at Ampfield. He would like to ask whether at the meeting of the Sub-Committee Ampfield was not considered because its huts were concerned with the Ministry of Works.

lf this was so would it be possible if reserves mentioned in the allocations did not take up the new houses, for some of the Ampfield cases to be considered. At present the position was getting on the nerves of some of these tenants because they occupied huts that they had to get out of in a few months and had gained the impression that the position was tangled up. He felt that the Council should have more regard to the plight of these people than it had done.

Mr. Scott replied that the tenants of the huts referred to had been considered but the Committee was very anxious to free the sites mentioned that was why prior consideration had been given.

The order of occupation has already been arranged.

many thanks to Chas Burnett