Saturday 30 October 2010

Somerset Freedom Fighters, part 2

That was until the General Strike. This time the SFF worked to keep farms working, moving food, fuel and livestock around the county. This meant strike braking and lead to fights with union men.
When it was only the miners left on strike CT made sure the SFF supported them and their families, much to the surprise of the miners and the annoyance of Lord Winterfield, who owned some of the north Somerset coal mines. The SFF and north Somerset miners had found they had a common enemy, Lord Winterfield who was also a big land owner in north Somerset.
After the tithe was repealed the SFF faded away, that was until the abdication crisis and the start of the civil war.
CT was surprised just how quickly the SFF reformed. Some meetings in the back rooms of pubs, a hand shake at a village fate and they were back in business. CT became a company commander. Organising and training was easy, arming his men less so, Here was were Dick Skeggs really helped, his years of travelling after leaving the army had given him some very good contacts. These he used to buy and smuggle arms in to Somerset. ’A’ company was the first unit to draw blood when the fighting started.

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