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BSHG was formed two years ago basically because we are proud of our locality, its history and heritage. It is appropriate that we chose the WWII tank ramp as our group’s first project because the name ‘Stather’ is derived from the Viking word ‘staithes’ meaning landing stage, taking us back over 1000 years into dark age history. There has in fact been a landing stage at the Stather since at least Roman times and the village owes its very existence to it.
Our landing stage brings us up to date a little being just under 70 years old but is nevertheless a very important part of our local heritage that touched the lives of everyone in the village during the years of WWII. The ‘Tank Ramp’ as it has been affectionately known locally since its construction, played a vitally important part of research into amphibious tanks and ancillaries in WWII and up to its closure in 1947. Famous names such as Barnes Wallis, Sir Percy ‘Hobo’ Hobart and Nicholas Straussler visited the site. It paved the way for those who were willing to lay down their lives to cross the Rhine in an effort to save Britain from invasion (as it was, as one of our veterans will vouch, the war was won without crossing the Rhine) but we must not forget these WWII veterans who faced the ultimate challenge in facing the possibility of giving their lives for their country. Restoring the Tank Ramp into a working slipway and tourist attraction is, we believe, a fitting memorial for the brave soldiers that served there. Time moves on and now we have members of our Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan and beyond, facing the ultimate sacrifice – and so we honour today’s soldiers by supporting “Help for Heroes” with a percentage of our funds raised being donated to this most worthy cause.
One our recent fundraising events of the Burton upon Stather Heritage Group naturally followed the history of the Tank Ramp with a Raft Race in aid of “Help for Heroes” and a Fun Day for the local community. Held as part of the long standing “Burton in Bloom” weekend, it was an unprecedented success benefiting both organisations and the local community. The day attracted close on 500 visitors including local MP Andrew Percy and NLC ward councilors Rob Waltham, Ralph Ogg and Elaine Marper, all of who commented on our remarkable ‘Big Society’ achievements. This promises to be an exciting annual event for many years to come.
Big Society is a very modern phrase and very much the dream of our Prime Minister David Cameron. We believe we are one of the best examples of the Big Society in action in that we are all volunteers working towards helping the local community as well as ourselves. Our projects bring together the different generations with an understanding and cohesion towards appreciating and respecting our community, its heritage and what it stands for.
BSHG Latest News
Jubilee Celebrations
On Monday the 4th of June BSHG will be hosting a fun day at The Ferry House to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
The theme will be 1952, with fancy dress, music, games and competitions from the time of the Queen's coronation as well as BBQ and fireworks.
Click for more details.
“BHSG on the BBC”
Thanks to this website we were contacted recently by the BBC who are currently making a documentary about the river Trent. Documentary producer Stuart Woodman told us the documentary was about the history of navigation on the river and that a piece about our Tank Ramp would provide the perfect end to the series (being almost at the end of the river!)
Following preliminary discussions and a site visit by Stuart, a date of 15th March 2012 was set. Soon after we were sent an email requesting that members of the group attend and if possible could we get any WWII vehicles to attend or interesting people to interview. We said. “No problem” and set about gathering the troops.
Soon the day arrived and 15 or so BSHG members, three WWII jeeps and Tank Ramp veteran David Gibb assembled at the picnic place for the ‘shoot’. Filming began straight away with various takes of the Jeeps making their way down to the Ramp whilst group members and film crew made their way on foot. Veteran David was given a ride in Jeep number two as at 2 days short of his 90th birthday we felt negotiating the steep hillside path was probably not for him.
Once at the ramp the Jeeps lined up along the concrete whilst presenter Tom Cunliffe (www.tomcunliffe.com) firstly interviewed group chairman Craig Allison for a brief history of the ramp and the whys and wherefores of what the Ramp meant to the village today. Tom then interviewed David to gain an insight into what live was like on the Tank Ramp during WWII.
The accompanying photographs are of our ‘shoot’ and the BBC has told us the documentary series will be shown firstly on BBC1 and then repeated on BBC 4. We do not have a date for this yet but it will be on this site as soon as we have more details.“Tank Day a huge success”
Click here for pictures of the day the Valentine DD Tank returned to Burton.
Tank Day
Way back in 2010 BSHG discovered that a DD Valentine tank similar to those used at Burton was restored and in full working order. It did not take us long to hatch a plan to bring it to the village and contact was soon made with the owner, a Mr. John Pearson of Wolverhampton. John told us that not only was his Valentine the only one of its kind in the world but that he was 99% certain it had spent most, if not all of its military life at Burton. That was the icing on the cake as they say and a date for its return was quickly set.
August 7th 2011 turned out to be one of the most memorable and unique days the village has ever seen and almost 500 locals turned out to see the 1943 MK IX DD Valentine make its return to the village for the first time in 67 years. Many commented on what a wonderful site it was to see all these old vehicles. Many even reporting feeling quite emotional the first time they saw the tank rumble into view.
Word had spread far and wide and many other WWII military vehicles and re-enactors attended to celebrate the event along with the local press and BBC’s Look North.
Highlights included a vehicle parade of 15 travel up the Stather Hill and along the high street lead by the Tank where more crowds had gathered to watch the vehicles go by.
The main highlight though was to getting the tank back on the Tank Ramp. No mean feat as the only access now is via the ‘Alpine path’ built by BSHG down the steep hillside. But owner John Pearson soon put our minds at rest with the words “It’s a Tank; it will go anywhere!” And thanks to the expert driving of his son Colin, it did!
BSHG worked extremely hard to organize the event and raise funds to bring the Tank back to Burton Upon Stather but the moment it set tracks on the ramp once again it was all worth it.
BSHG would like to thank everyone that helped us with our Tank Day and in particular John & Colin Pearson, Tank owners, experts and two of the nicest chaps we could hope to meet.
Many people are already asking about next year? Well BSHG has its plans… So watch this space as they say.
Sunday 26th of June brought fabulous continental weather to our region, and the Stather was caught in the middle of a heatwave ... the Heritage Group similar, except that we were 'caught out'! Hundreds of people descended on the Ferry House pub and the Trent, and were even being turned back from our pre-arranged car parking ..... However, BSHG volunteers once again did their best, we had an excellent pa courtesy of Mr Glyn Morgan, barbecue provided by the Ferry House and dance displays by Tatterfoals Morris of Scunthorpe. The Raft Race was a huge success, and results and total of money raised will appear shortly. For pictures of the day, and full story to come, click here.
Please be sure to also visit our sister website, BSHGremembers, housing the wonderful oral history of the Burton Stather area, with reminiscences of the wartime use of the ramp, including videos. All collected by Pete and Karen Day
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Site last updated 14th May 2012
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