Friends of the Lincoln Tank

The second FoLT talk will be held on Thursday the 12th May next. The venue will be, of course, The Naval Club, Coulson Road, Lincoln. Doors will open at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start. Entrance fee of £5.00 on the door and refreshments will be available.

John Dale will be delivering his presentation entitled “The Sleaford Lads”. In his own words:

“The talk is put together using letters, images and articles printed in the two Sleaford newspapers 1914-1920. In the first part of the talk, I follow the Sleaford Lads (including my grandfather) of 1/4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment from Sleaford to The Hohenzollern Redoubt, nine of whom would make the ultimate sacrifice, using their letters and images printed in the papers.

The second part will focus on the stories of the six sons of Sarah Corton; the deaths of the three sons of a Sleaford solicitor; the locally forgotten story of a 17-year-old, who after enlisting in the 7th Lincs Regt returned from the front suffering from shell shock in 1916 to spend 27 years in Mental Hospitals; the Sleaford Tribunal and the kicking heifer; the Sleaford born apprentice butcher and Boer War veteran who became possibly the richest private in WW1 and more….time permitting.

We had a taste of the talk when John presented his research to us at the Christmas “Bring and Tell”. From that I am eager to hear the full presentation. I hope as many of you as possible will be able to join us on the night. Make a diary note!

Don’t forget, the latest booklet produced by FoLT entitled “First World War Tanks in Lincolnshire” is now available. See Merchandise and Special Announcements page for more details.

Welcome

The Friends are a group of enthusiasts dedicated to raising public awareness of the role of the City of Lincoln in the conception, development and building of the 20th century’s most formidable fighting machine. The Group was formed in 2004 by a small group of Tank fans, and has grown steadily over the years with members from Lincolnshire and beyond.

Our Chairman is Richard Pullen, historian and author of ‘The Landships of Lincoln’ and ‘Beyond the Green Fields’.

We meet regularly at The Royal Naval Club. See venue details below.

Look on the ‘Events’ page for details of the next meeting.

Everyone is welcome.

NUMBER OF MKIV TANKS PRODUCED IN LINCOLN

NUMBER OF MEDIUM A WHIPPET TANKS PRODUCED IN LINCOLN

NUMBER OF MEDIUM C TANKS PRODUCED IN LINCOLN

Projects

We are involved in a number of projects aimed at raising the profile of the early tanks and Lincoln’s involvement in their development.

Archaeological Fieldwork

The Friends continue to work closely with the Great War Archaeology Group (GWAG), carrying out desk-based research and geophysical surveys of areas in the Lincoln area which were used for testing the Tanks during their development. Once again, we would be delighted to hear from anyone who has stories or anecdotes about the testing grounds or indeed Wm Foster’s factory itself. Preliminary investigation is also underway, together with GWAG to locate and excavate a Tank on the Western Front and, more importantly, trace the history of it’s crew.

A Geophysical Survey was carried out at Wickham Gardens Lincoln on 12 September 2009 to attempt to identify where the Presentation Tank was sited. Dave and Angie Hibbitt (Grid Nine Geophysics) conducted the survey (supervised closely by John May, Richard Pullen, Robin Wheeldon, and Chris Gresham!)

Tank trials in Lincoln

Little Willie and ‘Mother’ being put through their paces on Burton Park. If you have any photos we can add to our gallery then please do get in touch through the Contact Us page.

Join us at

The Royal Naval Association Club
Coulson Road
Lincoln
LN6 7BG
Doors open 1900 for 1930 start
Ticket price £5.00 per person, available on the door.
Free car park at rear. Licensed bar.