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Military Heritage Pub Launch
"THE FINEST HOUR",
DOVER
On 10th May 2007, the public house, "The Finest Hour", was
launched. Front Line Dover was a Garrison town, and
landlady Sarah Webb will fill the pub with war-time memorabilia,
to remember and respect our military history.
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| Roger Walkden,
organiser of the Dover Loyalty Card scheme, gave the
opening speech. "The 10th of May is the anniversary
of the invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Holland,
which led to Churchill's famous "Finest Hour" speech
... It is also the date he became Prime Minister." |
There has been a pub
on the site since the 1860s, when two cottages were
converted into an hostelry. The pub is famed for its
rare tiled frontage, said to be the finest example
in England. |
Landlady Sarah comes
from a military family, and welcomed everyone to her
new venture. The pub will be used by veterans and
other groups, and will be a home for the Dover War
Memorial Project |
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| Alan Taylor, Forget
Me Not War Graves, presenting Sarah with RAMC and
RAF plaques. Sarah was promised many more items on
the night, including a (defused!) bomb! |
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| Veterans Arthur
Tolputt, RA, Dr Peter Burville, RAF, joined
councillors and other guests to celebrate the
opening |
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Re-enactors Lee and
Jacqueline Prescott and Colin Smith, organisers of
the 1940s weekends in Dover,
with Sarah and Roger |
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Collette Boland, Dover Forum,
with
Mike Webb, Town Clerk |
Our undercover agent (Brian
Dixon, from Forget Me Not) |
Brian Walker, Town Sergeant, with
Councillor David Hannent |
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| With many other
guests and friends to enjoy the evening, including
the scrumptious food laid out in the upstairs
meeting room. The pub is well used to catering, as
it used to supply the nearby police station and gaol
with food. There are tunnels between the buildings,
although they are now blocked off. A ghost is
reputed to haunt the cellar, and has been seen by
the landlady herself. |
The pub was named by Maggie S-K, after the speech by
Winston Churchill on 18 June 1940. "..the Battle of France is
over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin ...
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear
ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last
for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their
finest hour".".
But there were other reasons too. Maggie said, "We are here
today to launch “The Finest Hour”. In June 1940, Winston
Churchill said that our little island had to stand firm, as the
enemy swept across Europe. This pub celebrates and commemorates
Dover, as THE frontline town - because we Dovorians, from
Hellfire Corner itself, know what it is to stand firm! We
carried on, we did our duty, and we Dovorians had our Finest
Hour!
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The pub sign
was designed by the artist Bruce (left, above).
Martin O'Hare (right), one of the bar staff,
painted the sign for the launch |
"But
- The Finest Hour is more. It is all we hold dear, whether
that's a victory in battle, a baby's smile, or a pint in the pub
after a hard day’s work. Some will say that The Finest Hour was
when we had Peace. The Armistice was one such - the
eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It has been commemorated every year since.
"I
wish Sarah success. I wish all of you The Finest Hours. But most
of all I wish us to remember – that we can enjoy our Finest
Hours thanks to those many brave people who fought and those who
died ... and still do so today. They gave and give their
Finest Hours - for us. May we never, EVER, forget.”
pictures by
Simon John Chambers
Post Script: We enjoyed a few
good drinks in "The Finest Hour" - but we hear it has now
closed. We've heard that it developed structural problems - not
because of the opening party, we hasten to add! We hope these
can be repaired soon.
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