Aug 28, 2018
Details have been revealed of a series of information boards which are to be erected to commemorate Brixham’s role during the Second World War.
The project has been organised by regeneration group Brixham Future which is aiming to create a ‘lasting legacy’. Eight boards, to be installed to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, will feature different aspects of wartime Brixham.
Brixham Future spokesman John Brennan explained: “The Churchill Memorial Garden site was originally houses demolished to create the turning circle for Sherman tanks to embark from the slipway below.
“We are delivering a major improvement by erecting eight one-metre square information boards on the garden walls alongside other potential improvements.
“The information boards, which are intended to last for the next 25 years, will link Winston Churchill, Second World War, D-Day and local people and the site in text and pictures. The site will become an educational focal point.”
The boards will include information about wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, after whom the gardens were named.
Homes were demolished where the gardens are now in 1943 to provide space for American tanks to embark as part of the 4th Infantry American Division which led the invasion of Europe. The town’s war memorial records the deaths of 125 Brixham people in the conflict.
Brixham, is known as ‘the town that helped liberated Europe’ as it played a crucial role on sea, land and air. In the key 24 hours of D Day June 6, 1944, the first American ground troops landing on Utah beach departed from the slipway below the gardens.
The boards will also record how many Brixham people volunteered to evacuate people from Belgium’s coastal ports. Coastal defences were built from 1939 including large artillery emplacements and smaller shoreline defences such as beach obstacles and machine gun emplacements.
Out of an original 130 such installations, only two remain open to the public, one of which is Brixham’s own Battery Gardens.
The port’s role in D-Day was crucial to the liberation of Europe as many of the first ground troops and heavy equipment embarked from the port’s ramps were destined for Utah beach.
More detailed information can be seen in Brixham Heritage Museum.
Original story by Ellen Grindley in Brixham News.
Jun 25, 2018
Brixham played a crucial role in the liberation of Europe. The American 4th Division departed our harbour and landed on the first beach to be liberated – Utah. Allied forces and refugees were welcomed into our community and many remain in our local churchyard.
We intend to hold a major commemoration event on the 75th Anniversary of D-Day next year. We anticipate that local groups, voluntary organisations, commercial and professional interests will participate in some way. It may be a display or activity of some sort that is pertinent to the event.
It will boost our town. We intend to hold specific a specific event on the 6th June and have a guest list of 300 national and local dignitaries. We anticipate crowds of 10,000 people for the public events. We have for example pre-booked the ‘Battle of Britain’ memorial flight and several other attractions for that week.
Other Brixham organisations, clubs, companies or societies etc will be celebrating the week. We can therefore adjust our early programme to suit and include you in publicity.
We would be delighted if you would consider doing something around a 1940’s theme to celebrate this historical event between Saturday 1st to Sunday 9th June 2019 next year.
We can provide further details in due course. I am contactable on 01803 852270 or email johnjosephmbrennan@hotmail.co.uk if you want to discuss further.
We would be grateful for a response by the 1st September so that we can plan accordingly.
John Brennan
Project Lead
Brixham Future CIC
Feb 10, 2017
Brixham Future Community Interest Company has been officially launched at an event in the town. The regeneration company will work with Brixham Town Council and other partners to deliver projects for the benefit of the community.
Speaking about the event, interim chairman John Brennan said that it had taken a long time for the new company to come to fruition after several changes of personnel in the period since it was originally formed as a working group of Brixham Town Council in 2014.
“The original group was formed following the successful What Next for Brixham Conference in November 2013 but it was quickly recognised that for it to attract funding it would need to be separated from the council and stand alone,” he said. “At the same time Brixham Future recognises that while forming the new company it is important that the bond between the CIC and the council should remain and the board have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to that effect in order that we may work in partnership going forward.”
Councillor Jessica Stock, vice chairman of Brixham Town Council, congratulated the new CIC on its formation and wished it well for the future while presenting John Brennan with a cheque for £2,000 to help with its start-up funding. She said: “Brixham Town Council is greatly encouraged by the new company’s willingness to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the organisations and their public commitment to the partnership which we hope will successfully deliver regenerational projects for the town’s benefit in the months and years ahead.”
In 2015 the working group delivered its first project to Brixham and Torbay Councils. The solar powered Belly Bins project currently resides with the latter authority and the two councils will enter into further talks about its potential delivery sometime in the spring.
“Several other projects are either in development or under consideration and if all goes well Brixham Future can look ahead with confidence,” said Mr Brennan. “We want to provide the community with every possible opportunity to get involved and for that reason in our initial recruitment phase we are asking for volunteers to step forward and apply for the posts of chairman, secretary and treasurer.”
To express an interest in the posts or become a supporter contact john@caracommunity.co.uk or telephone 01803 852270 by February 28.
Original story by Caroline Abbott in the Herald Express
Reproduced by kind permission of author/publisher
Dec 6, 2016
The Brixham Town Council Meeting on the 17th November 2016 established the Brixham Future working group as an independent Community Interest Company (CIC) to maximise potential gains. Brixham Future is holding an official re-launch of it’s new structure at Brixham Yacht Club, on Friday 3rd February 2017, 14:30-16:00.
RSVP to john@caracommunity.co.uk
Brixham Future was previously a working group of Brixham Council. The decline in public resources generates a need for new initiatives to be developed and delivered by new organisations in partnership with a range of local interests.
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