Posted on Facebook by Alan Matlock – 1st September 2026
Woolston Spitfire Trail Walk
Shared from New Forest & Hampshire Wartime Association who posted this today. The ticket source link below takes you to more info and the booking details…
On 24th September 1940, the Luftwaffe attacked the Supermarine factories at Woolston, where the Spitfire had been designed and was still being built. We’ve organised a guided walk with Alan Matlock, Chair of The Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust so you can hear the full story. Details are on https://www.ticketsource.com/nfhwa/t-ldxaena
But be quick – nearly half of the 20 tickets are sold already!
Posted on Facebook by Alan Matlock – 1st September 2026
Shirley Spitfire Trail Walk
As well as the Woolston Spitfire Trail Walk on Thurs 24th September, we have arranged, again in conjunction with the New Forest & Hampshire Wartime Association, to run the guided walk around the Shirley Spitfire Trail. It is several years since the Shirley one last happened. This TicketSource link:
https://www.ticketsource.com/nfhwa/t-glyezeg
takes you to the full details and booking info.
(PS: already 12 of the 20 tickets available have gone, 13.07 on 1st September)
Posted on Facebook by Alan Matlock – 6th September 2026
Ted Angel, Spitfire Maker Remembered
The sun shone on the unveiling of the 29th Spitfire Makers blue plaque this weekend as friends and family gathered to remember Ted Angel, Spitfire Maker.
Ted had been an apprentice sheet metal worker at the Woolston Works of Vickers Supermarine from 1936 and his granddaughter Sarah Penfold has been a team member of the Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust since she brought Ted to the project launch in 2020.
Sarah and sister Hannah performed the unveiling of the plaque, assisted by their aunt Lorraine and cousin Sally. The plaque can be found on the security fencing at the end of the Mitchell Close green space, off Hazel Road and under the Itchen Bridge.
Guests included friends and other family members and we were delighted to welcome Councillor Pat Barbour, Sheriff of Southampton, and Darren Paffey, the MP for Southampton Itchen, at the event.
Darren said, “I’d like to commend the work of the Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust and offer my support to their efforts to create a fitting and lasting tribute to the men and women, (like Ted) who helped design and build the Spitfire – and in doing so cemented the city’s place in this heroic chapter of our country’s history.”
The focus of the commemoration was the Supermarine slipway which remains, a Grade II-listed structure, as the largest remaining feature of the original factory. It was there that apprentice Ted would take his paper bag of sandwiches to sit and eat his lunch.
Before the unveiling Spitfire Makers Chair, Alan Matlock, spoke about the history of the Supermarine site and the events which it had witnessed since it was started by Noel Pemberton Billing in 1912.
Sarah shared the moving story told her by Ted, of how, when the factory was bombed 86 years ago this month, he managed to reach the company’s air raid shelters at the bottom of Peartree Green. There, lying on the concrete floor of the shelter, and holding hands with his workmates, the ground shook as the bombs intended for the factory fell short and the floor cracked open.
The sight of the carnage that met Ted as he emerged from the shelter – had a lasting impact on him and overnight his dark hair turned grey!
Afterwards, by kind permission of Landau Marine, the guests returned to the company’s Neol Pemberton Billing Conference Room on Hazel Road for a reception provided by Sarah and her mother Jenny and a panoramic view of the river and the slipway. The refreshments included a specially made cake, iced with a pre-war view of the Supermarine slipway and an added portrait of the young Ted.
As well as the cake design, Sarah has used her skills as a photographer, with a bit of help from AI, to create the touching image of her on the slipway sitting and eating sandwiches from a paper bag, with her grandfather.
Images courtesy of The Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust
Posted on Facebook by Alan Matlock – 8th September 2026
Interview with Ted Angel 2020
Following our very special unveiling event to remember Ted and commemorate the Supermarine Slipway, this is a reposting of an interview we shared in September 2020. Filmed by John Beck on Ted’s last visit to see his beloved Spitfire at Solent Sky Museum and shared with permission, Ted tells how he was “Proud” to have been “On the Spitfire”. Click here to view.
The Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust 