Dad's [Secret] Army - Don't Tell 'Em Pike!

Soon after I came to Dorset, I read a brief article about Wartime Resistance in Ferndown [it was in a newspaper in the chip shop, so I couldn't bring it home!] I discovered that During WW2, Churchill had a group based in Coleshill in Oxfordshire, who specialised in guerilla tactics. They secretly trained some members of Home Guard Platoons [aka Dad's Army] across the country to be prepared for special activity in the event of an invasion.
Ferndown had such a unit - and their base was an underground bunker on Poor Common. PC is an area of wooded land behind the Angel Pub, at the end of our estate. But although older members of the community knew of this, there was little real evidence, and nobody quite knew where the bunker was.

It was believed to be 'somewhere on Big Mac Hill' and that at the end of the War, the council digger had come along and filled in the entrance.
One afternoon, I went out for a bike ride, and had no idea where it was or what to look for. I asked a woman walking her dogs - but she was new to the area too. We chatted, and subsequently met up for a coffee... and I forgot all about it.
Last week I was in another chippy, and found another article. This was in the 4DorsetMagazine, and 3 months old. This time I ripped out the page and brought it home.
A local man, Adam Dunn believed he had found the bunker. He contacted the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team. CART contacted Dorset Council's countryside officer, Hannah Bosence [this is on Council land] and a dig was started.

They unearthed the water pipes, and an unusual corrugated roof, and other evidence of WW2 activity.
The bunker measured 10ft x 12ft, with a 25 yard long escape tunnel. 
In the event of invasion, 6 Ferndown men were to 'go to ground' and hide here  during the day. At night they were to emerge and carry out sabotage operations. Things like destroying aircraft at nearby Hurn Airport [now Bournemouth Airport] They could not tell their families about any of this - and they had been warned that their life expectancy, should all this happen,would be around two weeks. They were expected to choose death, rather than face capture.
They were led by HG Sergeant Geoffrey Tice [a local garage owner] with Corporal Alfred Talbot, and Privates Feltham, May, Black and Gabe. [Gabe was Ferndown Scoutmaster for 40 years]
Here is Ferndown HG

Six of these men knew they had been prepared for a special, dangerous task - but were not able to tell their comrades or their loved ones. Here's a diagram of the bunker

Can you imagine being down here in the dark, along with a supply of explosive, ammunition and weapons - plus a fortnights rations and water supply?

Ms Bosence  hopes to obtain the services of a council mini digger plus driver - and then the volunteers will return to fo more excavation work. She says the site will have to be filled in eventually, although they hope to leave part of the entrance exposed, with 'interpretation boards'' and the Ferndown Royal British Legion want to be involved in such a project.

I wonder if any of the Scouts in the 1950s realised that their Scoutmaster, Mr Gabe, had been prepared to be involved in guerilla warfare? That as well as lighting campfires and tying knots, this amiable looking chap also knew how to blow up aeroplanes, and engage German Soldiers in unarmed combat - and keep it all utterly secret, to sacrifice his life rather than give away information. 

There were rumours that "Gabby" had been "up to something" during the war - but it was not revealed for almost 70 years. 

This past history of this little Dorset town where I live never ceases to amaze me!