If you go to our Butterfly Reserve at Alners Gorse this year, you will see the carpark now contains a memorial to six Canadian airmen killed in the Second World War. The Hazelbury Bryan History Society in conjunction with the Dorset branch of BC, held a ceremony of dedication attended by many relatives, friends and supporters on 31 May this year. There was a flypast by the Red Arrows as the climax to the event.

The history behind this is that in the early hours of 29 May1944, two Canadian Air Force Wellington bombers based in Nottinghamshire were returning from a raid on occupied Nantes in northwest France when they were tragically shot down in error by Mosquitos based at Warmwell. It appears that the pilot had radioed in the wrong identification code so they were mistaken for enemy planes. One crashed with the loss of all six crew close to the road beside our Alners Gorse reserve, with part of the plane landing in the fields below to the east. The other Wellington crashed near Gillingham with the loss of several of the crew.

Volunteers for Butterfly Conservation worked with the Hazelbury Bryan History Society to prepare the corner of the carpark to receive the memorial and the plinth, and several of the neighbours offered parking space and a reception for those attending the ceremony. We are very pleased to have been part of this – it was a great community event.