News

A big thank you to all those who braved the weather this weekend and came to visit us at the Radar Tower. With four huge downpours between 11am and 3pm we were amazed that we had 38 guests. Some interesting questions and positive feedback.

Sarah S: Excellent-V. Detailed History of The Site

Yates Family: Very Interesting

Claire C: Surprising place, so much bigger than I imagined. Wonderfully restored

Once again we are looking forward to our nest open day on Sunday 12th June between 11am and 3pm. Hopefully it will be a bit drier 🙂

Bit quieter this weekend but so many interesting questions more than made up for the lower visitor numbers. More arrivals from the Netherlands and Germany were the furthest this week, but many locals still attending, many of which have never had the opportunity to visit the tower before.

John G: Impressed by extent of technical description – well done (ex Plessey & EMI Electronics)

Mr & Mrs Herron: Very interesting, great history to show my children.

Ron W: Excellent! very interesting, keep up the good work.

Next open day will be Sunday 29th May 11am to 3pm. If you would like to visit on another occasion or arrange a group visit we will try to accommodate as best we can, subject to availability. Look forward to meeting you soon 🙂

On the 6th April I was lucky enough to be interviewed on BBC Radio Essex to highlight the Radar Tower in Harwich, Essex. A small part of the war effort but an important early step in a system that is still widely in use to this day. Radio Direction Finding, as the British called it, became better known as RADAR. This was the American term that has become better known over the years. The system was being developed in 1935 at Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk so when the tower opened in April 1941 it was one of the first uses of land based RADAR in the world.

The tower will be open on Sunday 15th May between 11am and 3pm and entry is free. All donations will go towards the restoration of the tower and other historic structures opened on behalf of the Harwich Society. We open every other Sunday until the end of October. Hope to see you there 🙂

May 1st, nice bright but chilly day, and a lot of interest in the RDF tower. 49 visitors through the door and some very interesting questions. Also our furthest visitor today, one which will be hard to beat. Last year our furthest was from Perth, Scotland. Today they came from Perth, Western Australia! We also had a guy from Poland and two groups from the Netherlands. News of the tower is clearly going beyond Tendring.

Viv & Colin – Amazing. Particularly appreciated the ‘What can you see?’ board

Mavim (?) – Ciekawe (Polish) Interesting (English)

Nick – Fantastic presentation of our history

It is great to get such positive feedback each week and it encourages us to continue researching and presenting this fascinating building. We open again on Sunday 15th May, 11am to 3pm. Hope to see you there 

A nice bright day welcomed us on Easter Sunday and we were able to greet visitors outside in the sunshine. Between 11am and 3pm we had 36 visitors from as far afield as Tunbridge Wells and Bath. Everyone seemed to enjoy their visit and seeing the new exhibits that been added over the winter months. A new display case housing replica valves and a full size facsimile of the Resonant Chamber have been installed in the Operations Room on the middle floor.

Murphy family: Very interesting, well presented and informative. 10/10

Pumler family: Very interesting tower, some good info. Very atmospheric.

Osborne family: Really fascinating , some really great work to present & restore this, Thank you.

We are open again on Sunday 1st May at 11am. Hope to see you there 🙂

Thank you to the 30 visitors who came to see us at the tower today, despite local road closures due to the half marathon. The weather was on our side and we enjoyed meeting you all. Our furthest party came all the way from Northampton, so nice to know people are hearing about us.

Wicks family: Lovely to be interactive with WW2!

Case family (clan): Very interesting

Jones family: Interesting and great to be able to get inside, thanks

We will be open again on Easter Sunday, 17th April between 11am and 3pm. Group bookings can be made via our contact page (subject to availability). Hope to see you there 🙂

After a few months being closed, we are now preparing for a new season. We have added a couple more displays and panels, so hopefully these will be a good addition to the material on display. Our first open day will be Sunday 3rd April between 11am and 3pm.

Sunday 17th April (Easter Sunday): 11am to 3pm

Sunday 1st May: 11am to 3pm

Sunday 15th May: 11am to 3pm

Sunday 29th May: 11asm to 3pm

We had more than 500 visitors after we opened in June 2021, so we are hopeful that we can beat this number in 2022. Hope to see you there 🙂

We are almost at the end of our 2021 season with one more open day on Sunday 31st October between 11am and 3pm. Our open day on Sunday 17th was well received with positive feedback and visitors from Stevenage, Chelmsford and South London.

Sue & Family: Great Stuff

Lawrence: Every day is a school day and I have learnt something new.

T Williams: Very historical and educational. Everything is saved 🙂

For our first season running this fascinating building we couldn’t have asked for a better reception. Plenty of visitors and positive comments make it all worthwhile. We have a few projects over the winter so hopefully adding a few more bits before opening again in 2022. Dates have not been confirmed yet due to the ongoing issues but we will let everyone know ASAP. See you there Sunday perhaps? 🙂

Following another successful open day on 3rd October, we only have two dates left for 2021. Sunday was a bit quieter than the Heritage Weekend but we still had a good amount of interest. Many local visitors are still keen to see what has been hidden in the tower all these years, and others from further afield. Leicester was our furthest traveller this week.

Elsie G – Very interesting I liked it much [sic] 🙂 🙂

Archie and Maddison – it’s cool, great

We have two dates left, Sunday 17th and Sunday 31st October between 11am and 3pm. Group visits can still be arranged all year (subject to availability) and can be made by emailing us at [email protected]. Already looking forward to 2022, hope to see you there 🙂

As part of a nation wide event, we opened the tower on Saturday and Sunday, along with other historic sites in Harwich. We were busy from beginning to end of each day, welcoming 56 visitors on Saturday and 101 on Sunday, a new record for us. We had lots of positive feedback and even spoke to a couple of people who worked on post war Radar and were more than happy to talk about their experiences. Also had a retired Royal Navy crew member who operated Radar at sea during the 60’s and 70’s.

Chris, Kye and Ben – Amazing place

Carol and Kevin – Woh [sic] very interesting !

The Headford – Fascinating & very informative

Tony & Chris – Very interesting and informative. Thank you

We have three more open days on 3rd, 17th and 31st October between 11am and 3pm. Have a few ideas to work on over the winter, then hopefully reopening March 2022. Hope to see you there 🙂