World War Two – RUDDINGTON.info

Ruddington’s D-Day Beacon

4th June 20244th June 2024 Graham Wright

This week, celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day are taking place nationwide and in other countries which were British allies during the Second World War. This Thursday evening, 6th June 2024, our village will also be joining in. Ruddington Parish Council (RPC) is inviting all residents along to the War Memorial on Church Street for 8.50pm as the countdown to the synchronised national beacon lighting gets underway. Ruddington Community Choir will be on hand with some appropriate songs as the sun sets and dusk prevails. Ex-service personnel in particular are being invited…

Ruddington Village Celebrates VE Day with the Help of Local Traders

11th May 202011th May 2020 Leia Morales

Following the success of the Instagram Live ‘Virtual’ market, traders from Ruddington Village Market came together to showcase their products in a limited edition VE Day hamper to help the village commemorate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe), which marked the end of the Second World War against Germany. The hampers were a huge success, with a total of 77 being prepared for residents of Ruddington to collect from The Bottle Top on the morning of the celebrations. Preparing such a large number while maintaining social distancing was…

Virtual VE Day in Ruddington!

5th May 20206th May 2020 Barbara Breakwell

If society was operating normally, the weekend of 8th to 10th May would have been a period of national commemoration for the 75th Anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe), which marked the end of the Second World War against Germany. In Ruddington, a community event was scheduled to take place on The Green on Saturday 9th May. Unfortunately, like numerous other events, this has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Given our current requirement is to “Stay at Home”, an alternative way of marking this historically significant…

Bombs to Butterflies Revisited

20th June 201922nd June 2019 Graham Wright

Older Ruddingtonians will remember the days before Rushcliffe Country Park – when this sizeable area of the village was used as an Ordnance Storage and Disposal Depot. Our senior citizens will perhaps have even earlier memories – when it housed a bomb-filling factory during the Second World War. In 2003, a book called ‘Bombs to Butterflies’ was published by The Ruddington History Society and The Friends of Rushcliffe Country Park. It was edited by Margaret Lawson and told the history of the area from wartime up to when it became a…

Marking Our Country Park’s Aviation History

1st March 20191st March 2019 Graham Wright

A special plaque has been unveiled which acknowledges Ruddington’s role in providing a key airfield during World War One. The Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust plaque has been installed on ‘Fowemer Hill‘ in Rushcliffe Country Park, commemorating the area that was used as a take-off and landing strip during The Great War by No38 Squadron from December 1916 to August 1917. It was also then used after World War One by local aircraft owner and resident Harold Ashworth in the 1930s – who went on to join the Royal Air Force. Records…