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farming
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Eastern Daily Press
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Farm&Country
In association with
■■ Law Fertilisers has set up a new manufacturing base in an old RAF hangar at West Raynham.
Modern mission
for wartime relic
During the darkest days of the Second World War, it was an imposing bastion
of defence against the nation’s enemies. But now this former RAF aircraft
hangar has been called into action once again, for East Anglia’s farming
industry. CHRIS HILL reports.
An old RAF hangar which launched
countless aerial sorties during the
war has been given a new mission
on the ground – producing fertiliser
for the surrounding farmland.
The cavernous
building, covering
more than an
acre of the
former base at
West Raynham,
once housed
Blenheim and
Mosquito bombers.
But now this relic from East
Anglia’s wartime heritage has been
brought back into use by Law
Fertilisers, to make tailor-made
nutrients for the region’s arable
farmers.
The new factory is due to be fully
operational on Monday, with 11
workers combining as many as 50
raw materials, including British
potash and Russian phosphate.
Managing director Mark Law said
the opportunity to breathe new life
into such historic buildings was also
a major motivation for his team.
“Businesses are all about
people, and running businesses is all about inspiration,” said Mr Law.
“Being located in such a
historic site is very
inspirational, not only
for me, but for the whole
staff. It is tremendous. It
is a perfect resource for
our requirements, and
■■ Mark Law
we are putting it to a massively
important use that local people will
benefit from.
“This was a base that contributed
to protecting the independence of
Britain from the terrors of the
world. A lot of the crews didn’t come
back, and when the whole place is
empty it is spooky. Bringing life
back to it will make all that sacrifice
seem worthwhile.”
Mr Law also took pride in another
historic link – as his firm’s new
facility was in the same village
where Charles “Turnip” Townshend
pioneered the Norfolk four-course
rotation in the 18th century.
“Britain was the first country to
go through the agricultural revolution and this site was the starting
point for the Norfolk four-course
rotation,” he said. “The heritage of
being progressive and innovative
and different is something that is
very much akin to our own philosophy where we try to be the most
progressive fertiliser company in
the country.”
Mr Law said the new site would
fill a “vacuum” in central and west
■■ Then and now: A fertiliser
business has moved into a
disused RAF hangar which
used to house Blenheim and
Mosquito aircraft during the
Second World War.
Norfolk, left by the impending
closure of the Bunn Fertiliser
factory at nearby Fakenham, whose
operations are being moved to
Bunn’s Great Yarmouth terminal.
With such large storage and loading facilities at its disposal, he said
the West Raynham site could supply
as much as 70,000 tonnes of fertiliser
per year.
“The aim is to provide a local
resource for farmers to receive high
quality tailored fertilisers to
improve crop yields and quality,” he
said. “We will be doing sampling
and because we are a local resource
we can very easily manufacture a
bundle of nutrients that relates to a
particular field and a particular
crop. Farmers will tell you their
crops vary across the farm and
across the field, so we can cater for
that variability. It is not just N, P and
K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), but many other nutrients.
“There is a massive vacuum here.
It is a major crop producing region
without a local facility which a lot
of farmers appreciate. We are
providing that option now.”
Among the farmers who will be
using fertiliser from the new plant is
56-year-old Allen Ringer, who farms
two miles away at Ponders Farm in
Rougham.
He remembers watching the
aircraft in his youth, and said his
late uncle Tom spent a lot of time at
the officers’ mess where he had
several friends.
Tom farmed literally up to the
gate here, and there was always a
very good relationship with certain
members of the officers’ mess and
the local farming community,” said
Mr Ringer. “From what I can work
out, it was always a very friendly air
force base.
“In days of old for me as a little
lad it was: ‘Look at that!’ With this
Eastern Daily Press
71
YANA website: www.yanahelp.org
Saturday, July 30, 2016
farming
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Regional Farming
Newspaper of the Year
(as judged by the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists)
Chris
Hill
Agricultural, food
and farming editor
Sabah
Meddings
Business
writer
Wartime memories
Olaf Brun (pictured inset) was
born in a farmhouse about half a
mile away from RAF West
Raynham in 1939, a month after the
base opened.
The farmer and aviation enthusiast now owns the former base’s
satellite airfield at Great
Massingham as well as other farmland at nearby Weasenham.
Recalling his early childhood, he
said: “I obviously don’t remember
much about it, but when I was very
small my parents used to put me in
the cellar of the farmhouse in case
there was an air raid.
Some of the first
bombs to fall on
Norfolk in the
Second World
War were part
of an attack on
West Raynham,
which
was
attacked several
times from the air in
1940 and 1941.
“In 1939
the first
aircraft
to
come
here were Blenheims, part of
Number 2 Group. There were also
US Venturas and Marauders, and
at the end they had the Mitchell
bomber here as well. In 1943 they
got Mosquitos here, which would
attack the German navy in the
North Sea.
“The Blenheims were not terribly fast, but quite useful aeroplanes. But they had terrific losses.
A lot of them went down to Malta
in 1943 when they were building
the runways here – and a lot of
them didn’t come back.
“A lot of the squadrons reformed
with Mosquitos, which was an
absolutely super aircraft compared
to what they had before.
“I own the airfield at Great
Massingham just down the road,
which was a satellite of West
Raynham. There is a T2 hangar
there, which we found lying in the
grass and erected it.
“We are using the wartime
building for our farming operations and
that seems to be
what is happening
here at West
Raynham. You
have got straw
being stored at
one of these
hangars and we
have Mr Law
moving in with
his fertiliser and
that is probably
the best thing that
can happen to
these buildings.”
all about the base
■■ The Law Fertilisers team with (front) Mark Law.
and with RAF Sculthorpe, we had so
many aircraft flying over here, the
Vulcans, Valiants and Phantoms, but
you soon get used to it. They were
here all the time.
“The great thing about this is you
have got the heritage and you have
got four of the hangars still standing
here not doing a lot. For me, to see
something like this being made use
of is great.
“Mark has some very interesting
ideas about soils, and if you can take
that and apply it to what you are
doing, you can increase the potential
of the farm with that knowledge. I
think quite a lot of the local farming
community will take advantage of
that. The fact that it is on your doorstep means the transport costs are
reduced and we can come and collect
in bulk on the day of requirement. It
is a win-win situation.”
■■ Are you launching a new
agricultural venture? Contact chris.
[email protected].
RAF West Raynham was built
between 1938 and 1939, and became
a major operations base for RAF
missions during the Second World
War and the Cold War.
During the 1940s, Bomber
Command lost 86 aircraft on operations launched from the base – 56
Blenheims, 29 Mosquitos and a
Beaufighter.
In the mid to late 1950s, it
became a Central Fighter
Establishment, and from then
onwards it hosted squadrons of
aircraft including Meteors,
Javelins, Hunters and eventually
Canberras, which remained until
the end of 1975 when the base was
finally closed for flying.
After that, RAF West Raynham
operated as a Bloodhound surface
to air missile unit until 1991.
It was closed by the Ministry of
Defence in 1994, but retained as a
strategic reserve. Having lain derelict for more than a decade the
Ministry of Defence sold the site to
developers in 2006.