CINDERFORD'S "OPERATION LIBERATION"

CHAIRMAN'S BLESSING

Following a special meeting of the East Dean R.D.C., called to discuss the crisis, the Chairman, Mr J. L. Jones went to the Police Station and gave the operation his blessing. He said it had been arranged for 40 men to start work on Littledean Hill on Friday morning. The Gloucestershire County Council had delegated to the District Council the responsibility of clearing local roads as far as possible because the task was so formidable over the whole of the County. Inspector Wagstaff had already contacted of the Divisional Surveyors Office, Coleford, who authorised the issue of petrol for the purposes of 'Operation Liberation.' Mr Jones said payment of 1s 9d an hour had been authorised for the volunteers if they wished to charge it but hundreds of people joined in the work in addition to the 350 who registered initially at the Police Station. It is therefore fair to assume that much of the work was done for nothing with the one object of saving Cinderford.

All over the town and district gangs were at work in an organised fashion. Great efforts were concentrated on freeing Littledean Hill and Steam Mills where a huge drift was broken down by Mr Ackroyd and his party.

One of the first essentials was transport. So the men set to work on Thursday night to dig out vehicles which were stranded and snow bound. To get one back to the main street they had to hew a road for well over a mile. Three local hauliers, Messrs W. Hill, I. Evans and Baldwin were conspicuous with ready assistance and the lorries rumbled through Cinderford's streets throughout the night removing hundreds of tons of snow.

Towards 1 a.m. more messages came from Cinderford as the people opened the town up again;

Belle Vue Road, High Street, Abbots Road, The Triangle, the Station goods yard all cleared.

There had been no mail for three days now it was hoped to get through by tractor.

At 2.o'clock on Friday morning Inspector Wagstaff, Messrs Stigwood, B.B. Edwards and R. Ensor drove on a triumphant car tour thrugh the town from Station Street through Belle Vue Road to Littledean Hill.

I talked to Mr Stigwood and Inspector Wagstaff at G.H.Q. in the small hours of Friday morning [writes our reporter] "This is an epic" said Mr Stigwood. "It shows that there is the right spirit in the town; nothing decadent about this. There are seven or eight hundred people working outside; the whole thing has caught on like the measles. They are saving our town by their own exertions and it is beyond praise, 'Operation Liberation' will live in local history as one of its golden events and one other towns can take an example from."

Inspector Wagstaff warmly praised his officers, regular and special, for their fine co-operation and he added "one could not have carried out the operation the singularly splendid service of Mr Stigwood, the co-operation of the District Council and the yeoman work of all those hundreds of men and women who are this morning hacking away at Cinderford streets to bring the town to life again. The hauliers immediately placed their lorries at our disposal and with a great effort got them out of the snow and they have played an invaluable part in the success of this operation."

At Littledean Hill Messrs J.L. Jones and P. Dykins supervised operations.

"Operation Liberation" is Cinderford's challenge to the whole country because it shows what the strong arm of a united people could do to beat the economic blizzard which has shaken these fair isles.

Reprinted from the 'Dean Forest Mercury' of Friday, March 7, 1947