Talks reveal some secrets of the past

Emsworth Museum – closed for the winter – will reopen on April 2, but Emsworth Maritime and Historical Trust has organised three talks for the coming weeks and months.

All will be held in the North Street Community Centre, with £4 tickets available in advance from Bookends in Emsworth High Street.

To reduce the risk of Covid infection the organisers have limited the number of tickets being sold to allow for adequate spacing between the chairs and those attending have to agree to wear a mask in the venue during the presentation.

The first talk is on Wednesday, February 9, at 7.30pm, repeated on Saturday, February 19, at 2.30pm, called ‘Commander Crabb: What Really Happened. Speaker Ann Bevan, curator of the Historic Diving Museum in Gosport, tells the fascinating story of Commander Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabb who in 1956, against the express directions of the Prime Minister, dived into Portsmouth Harbour on a secret MI6 mission to investigate the hull of a visiting Russian cruiser. He never returned.

Tickets for this talk have been selling fast and may now be sold.

The talk on Wednesday, March 9, is called ‘The Triangle Girls’ starting at 7.30pm. Cheryl Jewitt will describe a specific group of women who, following the start of male conscription in 1916, worked in the Portsmouth Dockyard taking over the jobs and responsibilities of the men in their absence.

The women were identified by a distinctive triangular shaped badge bearing the inscription ON WAR SERVICE which they wore with pride.

In the photo above left Ellen Cole, Auntie Nellie to our talks organiser, who was born in Emsworth in 1898, is shown wearing the badge.

The third talk is on Wednesday, April 13 (7.30pm), called ‘The Mary Rose: A Unique 500 Year Story’.

Glen Dunaway, a marine archaeologist, was one of the team who dived on the wreck of the Mary Rose between 1975 and 1980. This talk is one of the special events planned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the raising of this internationally important ship.