MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - STAFFORDSHIRE
  NEWBOROUGH
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Newborough is a village in Staffordshire lying between Abbotts Bromley and Burton-on-Trent. We are greatly indebted to Mr. Les Mosedale and to Mr. Mark Taylor for providing the information which is contained on this page.

Like any village of a similar size throughout the land Newborough had its own Home Guard unit. Mr. Mosedale and his brother Charlie (seen right) were members. A photograph was taken of the unit in 1943 and this is reproduced below. By the time that it was taken Les was serving in the Royal Navy but his younger brother was still a member and is seated 4th from the left in the middle row. It is an unusual photograph in that it includes two ladies: female members of the Home Guard were only officially permitted after April 1943 and even then they had to be content with a non-combatant role and a badge as the only form of uniform.

Newborough is situated about three miles from what was once RAF Fauld, formerly a large gypsum mine which was used to store ammunition. At 11.11 a.m on November 27th 1944 some 3700 tons of the contents exploded, with catastrophic results over a wide area and resulting in a death toll of 78. The explosion was said to be the largest of the war involving conventional explosives and the crater is still to be seen to this day. Another website - The Fauld Explosion - provides additional information on this disaster. Regrettably it is likely that some of the men shown a year earlier on the photograph were amongst the victims.

 

Images © Les Mosedale 2007