Wartime
Brook and its surrounding villages had their fair share of highs and lows during the two world wars.
A stained glass memorial window in Brook Church gives the names of those people from Brook and the neighbouring parishes who served and those who died.
In both World Wars, Brook people of military age went into the services unless they were in reserved occupations. But the village remained for the most part a peaceful place. Occasionally areoplanes came very close, and one or two actually came down. It was a worrying time for all.
One day I plucked up courage and I ventured up into the attic, it had always intrigued me.
A search light was positioned under the washing line at Hanover, but the Rev Kirkbride ordered it to be moved.
In 1942 Bert Morris, a fitter and turner by trade, was working at Chivertons garage in Newport. He installed new machinery in part of the garage given over to war work, producing thousands of component parts for spitfires, landing craft, pumps for floating pontoons for bridges, etc he worked from 8.00 to 8.00 with a motor cycle journey to and from Newport.
Air raid wardens patrolled the village to make sure that no buildings were showing any lights. Anyone found carrying a camera was arrested...
There were a number of defences established around the area as this was one of the more likely coasts to be invaded.
Audrey Rann (Barnes) lived at Bank Cottage, Hulverstone and remembers her father’s inventiveness when it came to protecting his family...
A few months later came the real war, and then the Battle of Britain. No bombs fell on Brook (two fell harmlessly between Compton Farm and Compton Grange).
The war farmers got an extra £5 an acre ploughing up grassland to grow potatoes and cabbages...
Ron Emmett, who lived in Mottistone will never forget the day in 1941 when, aged about 16, he was arrested as a spy:
I had a keen interest in radio and all things associated with radio...
The first incident of the Second World War to affect Brook was announced by The County Press in 1939, when one of the new RAF fighters tested its guns before it was quite over the sea, ‘more care should be exercised,’ the IOW County Press calmly suggested.
The names of the men from Brook and neighbourhood killed in WWI and included in the Church memorial window.
C.G.Seely, Capt, Hampshire Regt.
F.R.Seely, Lieut. Hampshire Regt...
Generally village people came off better than those who lived in the towns. Although food was rationed, families in the Brook and Mottistone area still did quite well and rarely went hungry.
A handwritten letter from Princess Beatrice to Sir Charles Seely, Lord Lieutenant, in 1919.
In 1942 Bert Morris, a fitter and turner by trade, was working at Chevertons garage in Newport. He installed new machinery in part of the garage given over to war work, producing thousands of component parts for Spitfires, landing craft,...
Edward Whitewood as a young child remembers staying at Hanover during the war:
One day I plucked up courage and ventured into the attic, it had always intrigued me. I couldn’t believe my eyes - it was like an Aladdin’s cave.
The German prisoners of war who worked at the farm cooked their main meals in a huge container in one of the barns.
Life went on as best it could, children still went to school, armed with their gas masks. Mary Petitt moved to Dunsbury in 1944 aged 6 and remembers: Miss Nicholson had a Scottie dog, which she brought to school.