Activities Programme and
Projects Programme
Our annual activities and projects programmes are shown below, but please subscribe to our emails and newsletters, either as a Supporter (free) or Friend (annual subscription) so that you can receive up-to-date news. Please see here.
ACTIVITIES 2024
All submissions for the quarterly newsletter should be made to: [email protected] by the 1st of the relevant month.
February 2024 – circulation of quarterly newsletter.
Continuing from November 2023, until Wednesday 13th April 2024, 12 noon to 4.30 pm Wed-Sat (last entry 4 pm). SECRET GUILDFORD exhibition of SOE establishments within a 10 miles’ radius of the town. Free entry, no booking necessary.
Tuesday, 5th March 2024, 8-9 pm (UK) – quarterly Zoom presentation. SOE, the Jedburgh teams and Unconventional Warfare in WW2 – with echoes today. By Paul McCue, Executive Trustee of SECRET WW2 and with an emphasis on the creation and service of the Jedburgh teams, see further details below.
Saturday, 16th March 2024, 12.30 and 2.30 pm – ‘She’s growing a very fine moustache’ – part of the programme of talks supporting our exhibition at Guildford Museum in Surrey. These two presentations, by Carol Brown of Secret WW2, will give the story of two women agents who were assessed at STS 7, Winterfold: Maureen Patricia (Paddy) O’Sullivan and Sonya D’Artois, (née Butt). NB no disability access. Booking (£5) essential via Guildford Museum – tel 01483 444751 or email [email protected]
Saturday, 6th April 2024, 2.30 pm – film showing of ‘A Call To Spy’.
As part of the SECRET GUILDFORD exhibition and programme of talks being curated by SECRET WW2 at Guildford Museum in Surrey, there will be a special showing of the acclaimed 2019 feature-length film A Call to Spy, a fictionalised spy drama inspired by the lives of three women serving in F Section, SOE: two agents – Noor Inayat-Khan and Virginia Hall, and intelligence officer – Vera Atkins. While the plot deviates from historical reality, The Times’ review of the film included the following comment on its appeal to the general public: “Inspired by true stories, A Call to Spy is a compelling tale of extraordinary courage and sacrifice…. Each woman left an unmistakable legacy and the film is a tribute to their bravery and ingenuity.”
The film will be shown at 2.30 pm on Saturday 6th April 2024 (running time 124 minutes plus interval break) in the 16th century Guildhall, High Street, Guildford. Tickets are £10, available
via Guildford Museum – tel 01483 444751 or email [email protected]
Tuesday 23rd April – Saturday 4th May 2024 – exhibition at Cranleigh Arts Centre, 1 High Street, Cranleigh, Surrey GU6 8AS, of the establishments of SOE and OSS in a 15 miles’ radius of the village. Free entry. Tues–Sat 10 am to 4.30 pm.
Wednesday, 24th April 2024, 11am – Trustees’ AGM. NB this day also marks the 10th anniversary of The Secret WW2 Learning Network.
Wednesday, 1st May 2024 – deadline for submission of articles for the quarterly newsletter, to be circulated the same month.
Sunday 5th to Tuesday 7th May 2024 – annual F Section ceremonies at Romorantin-Lanthenay (5th – 5 pm tbc and Valençay (6th – 11 am), programme for 7th tbc.
Organised by the Mairie de Romorantin-Lanthenay and our friends at Libre Résistance, with displays and wreath laying by SECRET WW2. Own travel arrangements necessary, contact [email protected] for further details and formal invitation.
Sunday, 5th May 2024, 1.15pm (tbc) – annual ceremony at the Czechoslovak burial plot in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, organised by the Memorial Association of Free Czechoslovak Veterans. SECRET WW2 to lay a wreath on behalf of SOE and Special Duties squadrons Czechoslovaks. Further details awaited.
Tuesday, 18th June 2024, 10.30 am – L’appel
The annual ceremony, organised by the Defence Office of the French Embassy in London, marks the BBC appeal of General de Gaulle to France on 18th June 1940, a day that came to mark the beginning of French resistance to occupation. The ceremony takes place in Carlton Gardens, London SW1Y 5AA, in front of a statue of the General and outside 4 Carlton Gardens, the wartime HQ of the Free French Forces and the offices of the government-in-exile being created by de Gaulle. SECRET WW2 are one of the official wreath layers, commemorating the agents and teams of the BCRA; SIS; the SOE’s F, RF, DF, EU/P and AMF sections and Jedburgh teams who served in occupied France. No booking required.
Tuesday, 11th June 2024, 8-9 pm (UK) – quarterly Zoom presentation. ‘Writing an SOE Novel’ by Louise Morrish. Louise is a librarian and fictional history author whose debut novel won the 2019 Penguin Random House First Novel Competition. She finds inspiration for her stories in the real-life adventures of women in the past, whom history has forgotten. Louise will talk to us about her inspiration and research for Operation Moonlight.
Wednesday, 3rd July 2024 (Verrières) and Sunday 7th July 2024 (Rom) – two 80th anniversary commemorations in central France to mark the tragedy of behind-the-lines Operation BULBASKET, the largest loss of loss by the SAS Regiment in Nazi-occupied France. Details and timings expected in March. Own travel arrangements necessary, contact [email protected] for further information when available.
Sunday, 7th July 2024 – annual picnic and networking event at the Violette Szabó GC Museum, ‘Cartref’, Tump Lane, Wormelow, Herefordshire HR2 8HN.
SECRET WW2 will be staffing a stand and the suggested itinerary for Friends and supporters is:
12 noon arrive The Tump Inn, Wormelow, HR2 8EJ. Bar or (individual booking in advance) carvery, tel: 01981-540909. Easy parking.
1.30pm depart Tump Inn to relocate 500 yards to Memorial Gathering. No entry charge if walking, bucket collection (£2 – £5) for parking in neighbouring field. Time allowed to look at displays, raffles, cards, books etc, some to buy, including small museum/reminiscence items – due to be enlarged.
2.30 pm Memorial Gathering – BYO camp chair recommended as seating is limited. Gathering is outside so be prepared for the weather – sun or rain – comfortable shoes. At conclusion of official programme everyone has option of queuing for tea and picnic food provided. No fixed charge but a donation of around £2 and up is encouraged.
The event is run by Mrs Rosemary Rigby MBE, tel: 01981-540477, but no prior booking required. You will need to make your own travel arrangements. Contact Carol Browne at [email protected] to register your intention to attend.
Tuesday, 1st August 2024 – deadline for submission of articles for the quarterly newsletter, to be circulated the same month.
Sunday, 1st September 2024, 2-4 pm – annual commemoration of Jewish ‘secret war’ casualties, Brookwood Memorial to the Missing, 1939-45, Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. No booking necessary.
Tuesday, 10th September 2024, 8-9 pm (UK) – quarterly Zoom presentation. ‘Operation POSTMASTER of the Small Scale Raiding Force’. Nothing to do with the Post Office, Fujitsu and Horizon, but looking to tell the true story of the 1942 operation which ‘inspired’ the forthcoming film by Guy Ritchie’s ‘Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ will shortly be the subject. This real-life thriller features Gus March-Phillips, Anders Lassen and even Ian Fleming. Presented by Ashley Barnett, Trustee, Treasurer and Projects Officer of SECRET WW2.
Saturday and Sunday, 7th and 8th OR (tbc) 14th and 15th September 2024, 11 am and 2.30 pm each day -presentations by SECRET WW2 members on SOE agents at STS 5, Wanborough Manor, supporting the SOE and local history exhibitions in the Wanborough Great Barn, near Guildford, Surrey. No booking necessary. Lunches/refreshments on sale.
Saturday, 19th October 2024, times tbc – hold the date for our annual conference, to be held in a central London location. More details will be published when available.
Sunday, 27th October 2024, 12.45 pm – 80th anniversary commemoration of British intelligence and special operations units in the Slovak National Uprising. A short service will be held at the Memorial to the Missing 1939-1945 in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey at 11.15 am (please notify [email protected] if you expect to attend) before carrying on to:
Sunday, 27th October 2024, 1.15 pm – annual commemoration of Czechoslovak casualties by partner organisation the Memorial Association for Free Czechoslovak Veterans (MAFCSV) in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. Please notify [email protected] if you expect to attend.
Friday, 1st November 2024 – deadline for submission of articles for the quarterly newsletter, to be circulated the same month.
Friday, 1st November 2024 – deadline for submissions for the Network’s Steve Weiss Bursaries from students of the University of Chichester and the University of Kent.
Sunday, 10th November 2024 – Remembrance Sunday ceremonies.
10.30 am for 11 am, SOE/ATA/WAAF memorial Manchester International Airport. NB parking charge normally waived on exit from airport car park if you state you have been to the ceremony. No booking necessary.
10.30 am for 11 am, London, at the monument to SOE agents, Lambeth Palace Rd, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 7LB. SECRET WW2 will place a wreath. No booking necessary.
Monday, 11th November 2024, 9.45 am and 10.15 for 10.30 am – Armistice Day ceremonies, Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. Our own wreath laying at the Memorial to the Missing 1939-45 precedes the French Embassy’s ceremony at Free French plot. No booking necessary.
Sunday, 1st December 2024 – announcement of awards of the Network’s Steve Weiss Bursaries from students of the University of Chichester and the University of Kent.
Tuesday, 10th December 2024 8-9 pm (UK) – quarterly Zoom presentation.
THE LESSER-KNOWN ‘ODETTE’: SOE’s YVONNE BASEDEN by Professor Juliette Pattinson, Trustee of Secret WW2. Juliette highlights this remarkable agent and survivor of Ravensbrück concentration camp, still relatively little-known in comparison with several of her SOE colleagues and sometimes confused with the far higher profile Odette Hallowes GC.
PROJECTS 2024
A full list of our current projects can be found here.