Latest news with #GASP
Wales Online
07-07-2025
- Wales Online
Significant disruption ahead for train passengers as railway lines to close for three weeks
Significant disruption ahead for train passengers as railway lines to close for three weeks Rail replacement buses will be running but passengers are being warned that their journeys could take longer while essential maintenance work is carried out No trains will run through the Severn Estuary for three weeks from the end of July (Image: Matthew Horwood ) Rail passengers are being warned they will face significant disruption due to essential maintenance being carried out on a railway line which runs through south Wales. Due to the work, all railway lines through the Severn Estuary will be shut for three weeks from the end of July. Network Rail have confirmed that no trains will run between Gloucester and Severn Tunnel Junction from Sunday, July 27 until Sunday, August 17. Some services will be replaced by buses while the line is closed to allow engineers to work safely. The improvement works will stabilise the slopes beside the tracks, with nearly 7,600 grouted rock anchors and netting over 32,000 square metres. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here . The track will be renewed near Newnham Tunnel and signal and other infrastructure improvements will be made as part of the Gloucester Area Signalling Project (GASP). Vegetation management, platform line painting and litter clearance activities will also take place at Chepstow and Lydney stations. The work is part of the Severn Estuary Resilience Programme which aims to improve the reliability of services in the area which is "prone to extreme weather and coastal erosion" Article continues below Replacement bus services Replacement bus services will be provided for some services as follows: On CrossCountry services, buses will replace trains between Gloucester and Severn Tunnel Junction via Lydney and Chepstow. On Transport for Wales services, buses will run between Cheltenham Spa/Gloucester and Severn Tunnel Junction via Lydney and Chepstow. Passengers are advised to check before they travel, as journey times could be extended. Online journey planners will be updated ahead of the works, and station staff will be available to assist passengers. Check the latest travel information at Nick Millington, Route Director at Network Rail (Wales and Borders) said: 'These works are part of the wider Severn Estuary Resilience Programme (SERP), a program designed to protect the railway lines in the area which - owing to its geography, geology and a changing climate – is especially prone to extreme weather and coastal erosion.' Article continues below 'We have chosen this time of year so that it minimises the number of passengers and freight hauliers impacted by this essential work, while keeping our teams undertaking the work safe.' 'This latest stage continues our commitment to improve the long-term safety and reliability in an area historically prone to landslips.'
BBC News
06-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Blue plaque honouring Occupation secret news agents unveiled
Plaque honouring Occupation news agents unveiled 6 minutes ago Share Save Archie Ward & Dan Wareing BBC News, Guernsey Share Save BBC GASP agents produced weekly and monthly newsletters until the end of World War Two A blue plaque has been unveiled to honour a secret newspaper which spread British news to people living under Nazi rule during World War Two. The Guernsey Active Street Press (GASP) began in 1942 after the confiscation of radios by German occupying forces. GASP agents listened to broadcasts outside of the island and then produced weekly and monthly newsletters from June 1942 to May 1945. The plaque, on St George's Esplanade, is placed above what was then the T. G. Moullin and Sons cycle shop, where many of the newspapers were printed. Chris George The newspapers were produced above what was then the bicycle shop, T. G. Moullin and Sons Mary Sims, whose parents were both involved in GASP, said: "It's hardly surprising that it's taken so long for it to be honoured, because so many people have never heard of it. "My parents had a radio set made, and then listened into the British news, knowing they would have been punished if the Germans somehow had found out. "My mum worked for the Bailiff so wrote down the news in longhand, and took it into the Bailiff's office, concealed. "The Bailiff wouldn't have kept those sheets because I'm sure it would have been too dangerous if they'd got caught, so he must have destroyed them." Mary Sims' parents were both involved in GASP Darryl and Wayne Bertrand's uncle, Ludovic Bertrand, was the editor of GASP. "The people involved with GASP were very courageous in doing so," Darryl told BBC Radio Guernsey. "It was good for the people of Guernsey to hear what was going on in the UK and around the world, so this is why these people put themselves forward and did an amazing job. "So, for the secret press to be doing this work for the island and for the people gave everyone some hope." Wayne (L) and Darryl Bertrand are the descendants of GASP's editor, Ludovic Bertrand When asked what purpose the new blue plaque might serve, Wayne said: "It just keeps the memory alive of all of the hard work and the personal risk that everybody took. "Young people need to know what the island did for them in order to have freedom today."
BBC News
29-04-2025
- BBC News
Guernsey blue plaque to honour Occupation news agents
A blue plaque will be unveiled to remember people who "risked their lives" and distributed "uncensored news" during World War has been awarded to the Guernsey Active Secret Press by the Blue Plaque Panel commemorating agents who listened to broadcasts outside of the island and shared the news with islanders during the guide Amanda Johns said the unveiling of the plaque was fitting as it aligned with the 80th anniversary of Liberation plaque will be unveiled on 6 May at 10:30 BST at 34 St George's Esplanade. 'Not forgotten' Ms Johns, who has been working on the recognition for two years, said in 1942 radios were confiscated by the German occupying forces."Ludovic E. Bertrand, the editor of GASP, started to listen to radios and crystal sets and write down the news from the UK," she said. "It was so important to get uncensored news out to local people. It helped give them a feel that they were not forgotten."The States of Guernsey said GASP started as a one person operation before expanding to three, then 12 before the network widened across the Johns said all of the agents involved were "risking their lives", especially knowing what happened to Guernsey Underground News Service (GUNS), another resistance network also distributing said their names were given to the German forces and they were deported off the island and put in camps in Europe."The GASP agents knew it could easily happen to them at any point," she said. From June 1942 to May 1945, GASP was producing weekly and monthly newsletters. The States of Guernsey said the threat of arrest was real – many islanders were prosecuted for possessing radio used to write the news above what was known as the T. G. Moullin and Sons cycle shop, now China Red, said Ms Johns. "They would be typing up the newspapers upstairs, repairing bicycles downstairs making lots of noise so if a German soldier came into the shop, they wouldn't hear the typewriters upstairs."There was a number of trusted agents... everybody was putting their lives at risk." Ms Johns said the unveiling of the plaque would be "special"."It's such an untold story and we want people to understand exactly what went on."
