Our next meeting is on Monday7th April, starting at 10.00 at the Blackwater Sailing Club, Basin Road, Heybridge Basin for a talk by Julie Ann Miller of the Combined Military Services Museum, on the Cockleshell Heroes of Operation Frankton. 

The museum is home to the last known surviving Mk II Cockle Canoe, Cachalot from the Operation Frankton attack on Axis shipping in Bordeaux harbour by British marines in December 1942.

It became known as The Cockleshell Heroes Raid, a story of strength, determination and real heroism, and featured a brand new type of small collapsible craft, known as the Cockle Canoe. 

Operation Frankton was a propaganda triumph in the darkest days of World War Two but cost the lives of eight very brave men. Julie will tell the exciting story of the raid, the men, and the aftermath, drawing on original documents, photographs and artefacts from the museum's unique collection, not normally seen by the public.

Please join us. Malcolm Case

Membership Secretary on 01245 329435