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Dancing with Gwendolin:
Glenn Miller at Hawthorn, 1944 Article and photos courtesy Dennis R Williams Contributed by Robert and Pat Coles May 2019 It never ceases to amaze me that local residents know so many interesting details about the village, many of which are never published and get lost in time. Fortunately, some get recorded such as the autobiography by DR Williams, published in 2004. It tells the story of Dennis Williams, a telephone engineer from Bristol, who was employed to install equipment for the underground War Office locations in Corsham and Box in 1943 at the site called Hawthorn (a security codename for the telephone exchange). The book records Dennis’ experiences at Box during World War 2, remembered many years later, including his encounter with an attractive young lady called Gwendolin, who worked as a switchboard telephonist. This would be charming in itself, but the information recorded makes it a vital historical source. This is one of the few records of a big band concert at Hawthorn, featuring the famous American orchestra of Glenn Miller just a month before the bandleader’s tragic death. Extracts of the story are given below. |
Meeting Gwendolin
Dennis was billeted in one of the sixteen hostels in the Thorny Pits, Hawthorn and Leafield areas which accommodated eight hundred people at each site. He was tasked with installing phone lines in the secret underground factories and war offices. A whole city was built underground, and on the surface, to support workers engaged on refurbishing the old quarries. The city included a restaurant, canteens, a central theatre, cinema and ballroom.
Dennis’ interest soon focussed on one particular young factory worker, identified as Gwendolin from Bath, who he saw in the works canteen. Having invited her to the cinema, he noticed her full charm, her wonderfully styled hair, her beauty, her – well everything. That was the start of his wooing of Gwen. He invited her to a dance at Site 16, the only hostel with a bar. Gwen was a good ballroom dancer, dancing with Gwendolin was like dancing with an angel. Nineteen-year-old Dennis was smitten and began courting Gwen, taking her for a drink at the Rising Sun pub on Box Hill and meeting her most lunchtimes.
The Glenn Miller Experience, November 1944
One day Gwen announced excitedly, “You’ll never guess. Glenn Miller is doing a one-night stand at the Central Ballroom. Dennis obtained tickets and they went for the dance of a lifetime.
Dennis was billeted in one of the sixteen hostels in the Thorny Pits, Hawthorn and Leafield areas which accommodated eight hundred people at each site. He was tasked with installing phone lines in the secret underground factories and war offices. A whole city was built underground, and on the surface, to support workers engaged on refurbishing the old quarries. The city included a restaurant, canteens, a central theatre, cinema and ballroom.
Dennis’ interest soon focussed on one particular young factory worker, identified as Gwendolin from Bath, who he saw in the works canteen. Having invited her to the cinema, he noticed her full charm, her wonderfully styled hair, her beauty, her – well everything. That was the start of his wooing of Gwen. He invited her to a dance at Site 16, the only hostel with a bar. Gwen was a good ballroom dancer, dancing with Gwendolin was like dancing with an angel. Nineteen-year-old Dennis was smitten and began courting Gwen, taking her for a drink at the Rising Sun pub on Box Hill and meeting her most lunchtimes.
The Glenn Miller Experience, November 1944
One day Gwen announced excitedly, “You’ll never guess. Glenn Miller is doing a one-night stand at the Central Ballroom. Dennis obtained tickets and they went for the dance of a lifetime.
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I pressed on to Thorny Pits hostel. I usually went to my block first, but on this occasion, I decided to pop into the dining hall to see what was on the menu that night. “Lovely” I thought to myself, seeing it was roast pork, sausage, peas, carrots, gravy and stuffing, followed by apple dumpling, great. Having arrived at my block, I busied myself sorting out my clothes for the dance. I knew on this occasion Gwen would like me to look special as she herself would.
The author puts the importance of the event into context. Glenn Miller was the king of swing. Listened to on the radio, his music was rich in tone. Few ever dreamt they would have the pleasure of actually dancing to his band… we made our way from Thorny Pits (on the Bradford Road) up to (Corsham) Five Ways. We then turned right down the hill, past PL1 (Passenger Lift 1) and a short distance from below PL1 across to the ballroom. As we neared this wonderful building, with people milling around the entrance, unable to get in but enjoying the music from outside, we became aware that inside the ballroom was a magnificent swing band. The rhythmic beat was that of the one and only Glenn Miller. Glenn Miller was a major in the US Army and was extremely smart and very handsome in his well-cut uniform. His accompanying band, highly praised musicians, were also officers in the US Army. It was a feature of Glenn Miller to turn facing the dancers, waving a small baton in his left hand in time with the music, whilst extending his right hand so that female dancers could touch it as they passed. |
Gwendolin outside Thorney Pits, Hostel 1943
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Glenn Miller had arrived at Milton Ernest Hall near Bedford from America in July 1944 to entertain mainly American forces as a morale booster, but was not averse to entertaining elsewhere, where British morale could benefit by his appearance, including places such as Hawthorn, with thousands of temporarily accommodated war workers. It was early November 1944 when Glenn Miller appeared at the Central Ballroom. Sadly, one month later he went missing and was never found. The plane that Miller was in travelling to Paris in December 1944 went missing and various conspiracy theories emerged after the authorities hushed up his death for a fortnight. Some thought he was on a secret mission to negotiate peace with Germany, others that he arrived in Paris and died in a brothel, or even that his plane was a victim of Allied mistake. We may never know.
Postscript
The dance was nearly a recap of the film Brief Encounter because Dennis was called up into the army and posted to Glasgow. The day of his departure from Hawthorn dawned: With it came the realisation of my final departure from Thorny Pits Hostel, the area of Hawthorn and the hostel sites beyond, and of course that magnificent secret underground city, tales of which must never be told – it has taken sixty years to unfold. Leaving Gwendolin was my greatest wrench.
It wasn't the end of a charming but brief liaison but on Dennis’ first leave from the Armed Forces, he and Gwen became engaged. The engagement was only to last a short time, for within two months Gwendolin and I were happily married, at Bath Abbey, on 18 August 1945. They were married for 57 years until Gwendolin’s death 13 September 2002. Dennis’ autobiography deserves to be recorded for posterity for its romance as well as its memories of wartime Box.
I have tried to trace Dennis and his family without success to ask permission to use extracts and illustrations. The book was dedicated to Gwendolin and published for charity. It has been long out of print but is available in local libraries. Thank you, Dennis, for recording your wonderful memories of Gwendolin and of this amazing dance at Hawthorn.
Postscript
The dance was nearly a recap of the film Brief Encounter because Dennis was called up into the army and posted to Glasgow. The day of his departure from Hawthorn dawned: With it came the realisation of my final departure from Thorny Pits Hostel, the area of Hawthorn and the hostel sites beyond, and of course that magnificent secret underground city, tales of which must never be told – it has taken sixty years to unfold. Leaving Gwendolin was my greatest wrench.
It wasn't the end of a charming but brief liaison but on Dennis’ first leave from the Armed Forces, he and Gwen became engaged. The engagement was only to last a short time, for within two months Gwendolin and I were happily married, at Bath Abbey, on 18 August 1945. They were married for 57 years until Gwendolin’s death 13 September 2002. Dennis’ autobiography deserves to be recorded for posterity for its romance as well as its memories of wartime Box.
I have tried to trace Dennis and his family without success to ask permission to use extracts and illustrations. The book was dedicated to Gwendolin and published for charity. It has been long out of print but is available in local libraries. Thank you, Dennis, for recording your wonderful memories of Gwendolin and of this amazing dance at Hawthorn.