Coffee Morning October 5th

At a well attended meeting of the Pembroke and Monkton History Society on Saturday, we were pleased to welcome as our guests John Brock MBE and his son Deric Brock who came to talk to us about the Carew Cheriton Control Tower.  John has fond memories of Monkton and began by recalling some of his experiences in the war, when, as a young lad, he would cycle over to Monkton school which he attended during the bombing raids on Pembroke Dock.

 Carew Cheriton Control Tower

He then told of the WWII Control Tower restoration project: now fully restored to its 1940s condition.  John informed us that The Carew Cheriton Control Tower Group was formed in the spring of 2000 after the landowner approached the Carew Historical Society with the offer of the building on a long-term lease.  The building, situated on the disused Carew airfield, was in danger of being taken down and therefore lost to future generations. Its restoration was a lot to take on but, as a result of a Parish meeting, a group was formed composed of members of the historical society and other interested people who were keen to see this building restored to its original state: 35 members ranging in age from 13 to 80.   The Welsh Assembly had then given grants to begin restoration work: fortunately there were people who could still remember the Control Tower as it was enabling them to put it back to its 1940’s condition. 

 A great tribute

Deric, who is author of “Wings over Carew”, then took over with a slide show of some of the large archive of photographs collected and the stories behind them.  Another achievement of the Group has been the production of a DVD of wartime memories and photographs resulting from the project. 

John concluded that he is so proud of what has and is still being done in recording the history of what happened at Carew.  He pointed out that over 100 people lost their lives in the bombing raids on this airfield: what has been achieved here is a tribute to the many who lost their lives.