STOCKINGS and suspenders Christmas parties, an in-house dance band, free haircuts and curries on the canteen menu, life wasn’t too bad for those working at a top secret government establishment just outside Kidderminster in the 1950s.
In fact, Summerfield Research Station was something of a law unto itself. It had its own police force and fire brigade and even its own club tie.
Quite a package, as befitted a facility at the cutting edge of the country’s answer to the Cold War threat coming from the Soviet Union in the decades following the Second World War.
Life at the high security site, which began life as a WW2 munitions factory, has now been told in a new book by two former West Midlands police officers turned authors, Stephen Burrows and Michael Layton, Top Secret Worcestershire II.
It is, as its title suggests, the second volume in the couple’s comprehensive look at how the UK responded to foreign threats over the years.
Top Secret II covers the covert communications centre at Wood Norton Hall, Evesham and the work of the nuclear rocket men and women at Summerfield. But while Wood Norton, the luxurious former home of the Duc d’Orleans and for many years a BBC training centre, has since been converted into an up-market hotel, Summerfield still makes rocket motors and its testing site in the Wyre Forest still operates.
It is now run by a consortium company called Roxel (UK), with most of the old buildings replaced by modern ones and none of the original staff remaining.
But back in August 1951, things were very different. With a weather eye to the future in the arms race, the government was looking for bases out of harm’s way to work on its nuclear deterrent - specifically to build and test rocket motors.
Summerfield, hidden away in the Midlands, was ideal. It had been used as a Ministry of Supply store since ceasing arms production and didn’t need much conversion to its new role.
From across the UK arrived a team of specialists in various fields, including metals, furnaces, materials handling and rockets.
The project was led by the wonderfully named St John de Holt Elstub – otherwise nicknamed “Stubby” – who had been a distinguished bomber pilot during the war before developing his interest in liquid fuel powered long range missiles. He later became managing director of ICI Metals Division.
The staff were mainly accommodated in a collection of single storey creosoted wooden huts, which were supposed to be temporary, but in fact lasted until the 1990s. A large adjacent house called The Upland was soon acquired to act as a staff hostel and was somewhat luxurious by comparison.
Housekeeper Pauline Ingham had worked in the Far East and was noted for her exotic cooking skills, which included authentic curries with assorted side dishes. Not the sort of food the average British staff canteen was serving up in the 1950s. Eventually The Upland was sold and it unfortunately burnt down in 2001, long after the smell of curry had gone.
Security at Summerfield was tight. The site was surrounded by a high metal fence and there were police lodges at its two entrances. In fact it had its own 20 officer police force and an eight man, fully equipped fire brigade. The latter a necessity with so much explosive and propellant material being used.
Mostly any emergencies were soon dealt with, but on March 4, 1980 an explosion occurred in the propellant burn-out area which killed two workers and damaged two near-by houses. It brought home just how dangerous the daily environment could be.
Over the years the station became very much its own community and worked on numerous types of anti-tank weapons and surface to air missiles, as well as naval weapons such as the Sea Cat, Sea Dart and Sea Wolf.
When it first opened, the staff at Summerfield Research Station were mostly in their late 20s and early 30s and a good social side soon developed. Both brass and dance bands formed, there were cricket, football, hockey and sailing sections, while the keen gardeners grew produce to be sold at an in-house shop. A barber from Bickertons of Stourport called once a week and a Summerfield club tie was struck.
Until the drink-drive laws rather calmed it down, one of the liveliest functions was undoubtedly the annual Christmas party, where fancy dress stocking tops and bow ties were on display.
At one memorable event in 1952 Pat Waters, who was a secretary, rode her motorcycle around the canteen with colleague Dot Bird on pillion.
To keep the men’s end up, Laurie Lonnon in charge of the Instrument section, repeated the feat in his Fiat 500 while being squirted with soda water through the sun roof. Had the Russians known what a bash was being thrown at Summerfield, they might have been tempted to invade.
*Top Secret Worcestershire II by Stephen Burrows and Michael Layton is available through WH Smith, Wyre Forest Books, Bewdley and Amazon at £14.95.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here