In 1992 Bridgwater became the first British town to twin with a Czechoslovakian town after the Velvet Revolution in that country brought about the end of Communism. On Monday October 30th, as part of the ‘Bridgwater Together’ week of internationalist events at the Engine Room, High street home of Somerset Film & Video, 2 speakers will talk about the historic events that connect Britain and Bridgwater to the Czech and Slovak Republics.
On June 18th 1942, British trained Czech and Slovak Parachutists , dropped into Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher of Prague and architect of the ‘Final Solution’, fought to the death in a Bohemian Crypt in a defiant act of anti-Fascist resistance. John Martin, author of the book ‘The Mirror Caught the Sun’ and a historical advisor to the 2016 film ‘Anthropoid’ both of which tell the story of these events, will be speaking at the Engine Room and showing archive material which he has collected along the way.
John Martin is a popular stand-up comedian and after dinner speaker and recently was the driving force behind raising a monument to the Anthropoid soldiers in the Shropshire town of Ightfield near where they trained.
Bridgwater-Czech Slovak Friendship
On June 18th 1992, 50 years after the events in the Prague crypt, Bridgwater twinned with the Czech town of Uherske Hradiste. The founder of that link was current Town Council Leader Brian Smedley. Cllr Smedley will also be talking about Bridgwater’s Czech/Slovak link, the 1938 Vernon Bartlett election which saw Bridgwater as the first Parliamentary constituency to elect an MP on an anti-Fascist platform and the 1989 Velvet Revolution which was the catalyst for the next 25 years of openness and co-operation between our 2 (now 3) countries in modern times.
Brian Smedley has been a Councillor for 25 years. A musician and writer, he has also organised International exchange projects throughout most of this time, principally with the Czech and Slovak Republics.
The Engine Room event on Monday 30th October starts at 7.30pm and is free.
For more information about ‘Bridgwater Together’ click here.
June 18th 1992 Czech dancers in Bridgwater as the Town twins with Uherske Hradiste
Czech Police on the streets of Bridgwater
Crosses at Kings Square from Italy, Canada and the Czech Republic
Czech visitors have a look at the Sydenham Childrens centre
John Martin crouches at the newly unveiled monument alongside dignatories including the Slovak Ambassador, the Czech Military attache and local MP Owen Patterson.
Czech architects in Bridgwater at the 1947 CIAM confernece
Assassination on a Prague street
Reinhard Heydrich,3rd in line to Hitler
Cllr Smedley at the Prague monument to the velvet revolution
Antonin Machala and Brian Smedley at the first Bridgwater-Czech meeting in 1991
Bridgwater and UH teams play one another in Croatia
Rhode Lane Wanderers visit Uherske Hradiste
Bridgwater College students visit the Barrandov film studios in Prague
Jan Kubis & Josef Gabcik
The children of Lidice, the village massacred by the Nazis in 1942
The crypt in Pragues Resslova street where Czech parachutists fought to the death
Bridgwater Mayor Ken Richards in UH with Czech and Italian partners
Bridgwater delegates lead the wine festival parade in Uherske Hradiste
The night of the Velvet revolution Nov 17 1989
Uherske Hradiste
Vernon Bartlett , Bridgwater’s MP in 1938
