Sgt Tony Kennedy
with
Steven Mc Ewan -Terry Arnold
Nick Skaliotis & Jim Johnson

Ivor Noel Morgan White

 
      

Looking for information about the 'Home Guard' as it really was during World War Two, Outline Productions, the producers of the UKTV History Series 'Home Front' spotted my Battle Abbey Website on the Internet and were inspired by my pictures and stories about our local war effort. It was decided to shoot the film in Battle, and nearby locations, using volunteers to reenact as nearly as possible, a few days in the lives of four typical Home Guard recruits of the 1940's - with some help from me.
As well as giving advice on some aspects of life in the Home Guard, I also appear in the film, and for my own records I took a series of 'still' pictures some of which are reproduced here for the many visitors to my website, from all over the world, who have often expressed interest in this period of Battle's history.
 

           Volunteers Steven and Nick, wondering what they have let themselves in for, arrive at the
                  Battle Guides Hut, as film director Richard Watsham lines up one of the cameras.

           Taking a well earned coffee break, film researcher Minna Viro chats with Steven while                 Sergeant Tony Kennedy and Richard check the uniforms for size and condition.

Tony supervises the issue of uniforms                         The recruits very first drill parade

Don't worry lads the worst is yet to come !

 Expert firearms instruction                                                      Now it's their turn

             Not bad scores for beginners                                     " Sorry lads, can we shoot that again ! "

 A  4" group at 50 yards can't be bad !

My thanks to the lads and the film-crew who worked so hard to revive memories of the Home Guard

Having viewed the film several times, local author Victoria Seymour comments:

 "The article about the making of one episode of the UK TV History Channel series ‘Home Front’, the re-creation of WWII Home Guard Training, in the 3rd December edition of the Battle and Rye Observer, completely overlooks the major part played in the making of the episode by former Battle resident Ivor White. At one point in WWII, Ivor was the one of the youngest Home Guards in Great Britain, enlisting at aged 15. Of all those portrayed in a 1942 official photograph of the Battle Home Guard Company, Ivor is believed to be the only survivor. It was thanks to his influence that the one-hour programme was filmed by Outline Productions in the Sussex country town of Battle, site of the 1066 Battle of Hastings.

Ivor appears in the programme in a number of interviews, in which he recounts his personal experiences of being in the Home Guard. He also provided a greater input, by going on location for two days and overseeing the authenticity of uniforms, weapons, conduct and procedure. A few glimpses in the film of  Ivor demonstrating drill to the four Home Guard ‘recruits’ show that at aged 78 he still retains the bearing of the Irish Guardsman he became in 1944. He also demonstrated on the firing range that after over 50 years he can still handle a rifle to good effect.

People who remember WWII will observe that the series’ makers were hard-put to re-create the true atmosphere of the period: The lack of total blackout conditions for night-time exterior filming and the well-fed and relaxed HG volunteers could not completely convey the feeling of desperation that lay behind the sometimes fumbling efforts of these part-time soldiers. The film did have moments of genuine humour, along with a case of personal pique at being overlooked in promotion, getting lost and the aching feet on a route march, which were a true reflection of the problems of men trying to combine a full-time job with after-work soldiering.

The production team told Ivor White that without his co-operation it would have not have been possible to have made the programme. It is regrettable that this was not acknowledged in the final credits, particularly as Ivor’s services were unpaid."

My thanks to Minna Viro and Richard Watsham,
Greg Smith and Stuart Wareing (Camera and Sound)
for allowing me to photograph them during the making of
 'Home Guard'
for
OUTLINE PRODUCTION FILMS

    

Visitors from my Irish Guards website Click here to return

Check on UKtv History Channel 12 for repeat screenings