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The Meadows during the floods of 1947
The Meadows during the demolition of the 1970's
In Lunacy, the story of Mary Yale of Leeds.
My Family History
Auxillary Fire Service
My mother's father, Joseph Corthorn, served with the Auxiliary Fire Service during World War Two. Strangely enough the family have been able to find no details of the AFS during this time. It is thought that most records of the men who served in the AFS were destroyed after the war.
We know that Joseph was sent to Coventry to help out there during the bombing campaign. He was also sent to parts of the Kent coast and saw service in Deal and Ramsgate. We do, fortunately, have several photographs of him, some of them during training somewhere in Nottingham. Some of these photographs are very small so the reproduction quality is not the best.
Anyone wanting to find out more about the AFS and it's operations in Nottingham should read Battle of the Flames - Nottinghamshire's fight for survival in WWII by David Needham. David has gathered memories from many of the men who served in the AFS, NFS, ARP Services and the CDO.
As always, if anyone has any memories or photographs relating to this page please send them in and I will post them with pleasure.
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| Joseph Corthorn, left, with fire tender at the depot on Kinglake Street. | Joseph Corthorn, third from left, outside the depot on Kinglake Street |
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| Men of the Auxiliary Fire Service during a training exercise on Queens Drive. Joseph Corthorn is seen standing in the foreground in the left hand photograph and straddling the pipe in the foreground in the right hand photograph. |
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| Joseph Corthorn, far right, outside the pumping station on Victoria Embankment. This was positioned on the Meadows side of Wilford Toll Bridge. The statue of Sir Robert Clifton can just be seen in the background, still there in the present day. This pumping station provided the water for nearly all of the Nottingham area. |