Some of the Home Guard and Fire Service members outside the Red Lion public house, Coleford during  the Second World War.

At the back: Landlord of the Red Lion Will White and Mr Elijah Halford
Row 2. Wallace Cole, Mr Howard ("Coodle"), Caleb Morgan, Bill Kibble (army), Hector Beard, Jack Waite, Bill Tomlins.
Front Row. L-R Stan Phipps, Bill Baker, Bert Hayward, Bill Cuff, Tommy Harris, Joe Short, Frank Roberts.

The 'Red Lion' was in Cinder Hill , Coleford. It is now demolished but it was on the site of the present Coleford Surgery. The surgery was built using some of the stone from the pub.

Bill Kibble added (May 2010): "The tall man in the group, the only one wearing a beret is my father. He was R.S.M. W. H. Kibble Military Police. He had just been released from Stalag Eleven B at Fallingbostel after being wounded and captured at the Battle of Arnhem. I am reasonably sure the man behind his right shoulder is the landlord although I cannot remember his name. In the front row on the left, I think this is his brother-in-Law Barratt".

Dave Nash added (Feb 2009): "The surgery now on the site of the Red Lion is called Brunston Surgery. Presumably so that is not confused with the Coleford Health Centre which contains another practice and is situated next to the Coleford Railway Museum".

Miss Doreen Beard added (Feb 2009): "The picture was taken to mark the homecoming of her half brother R.S.M. Bill Kibble at the end of the war. He had been a P.O.W in Germany following his capture at Arnhem".

Thanks also to John Ricketts, Ivor Ellis, Gerald Biddle and Dave Nash.

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