Home Guard

During WWII, there was a Home Guard group in Eversholt. Their headquarters was in the outbuildings at the back of the then rectory – now Linden House. David Smallridge, who lives there now, has carefully avoided destroying the last evidence of this by overenthusiastic redecoration. He alerted Emrys Williams to the existence of graffiti there, and Emrys took photos for posterity.

Just by the door, there are several tiny sketches of warplanes. David speculates that they might have been aids to identification, while Emrys speculates that someone was bored on a long, cold night’s watch. Here they are (click for bigger pictures):
graffiti1
Further inside, there are instructions crayoned on the wall.
graffiti2
This one says something like
TELEPHONE NOs
NOB P.S. 205
WALLIS 33
SIMPSON 35
SMITH 52
EX
64
DIAL 01
GIVE OR
EXCHANGE
NO REQ FOLLOWED
BY 64
OUTSIDE SYSTEM
I wonder who Wallis, Simpson and Smith were? Aha! Simpson is easy. The Simpsons ran the Eversholt Post Office, and we even know that their phone number was Ridgmont 35! That same phone book (sorry, Ancestry login required) has an entry for “Wallis R, Froxfield Gardens…Ridgmont 33”. And! “Smith J S, Holly Hedges, Eversholt…Ridgmont 52”.

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