Tag: Open Days

Sunday 29th October is our last open day this season. We are open between 11am and 3pm as always. Admission is free but donations are always welcome. We can open on Sundays throughout the year for group bookings but you must contact us first to arrange time and date to ensure availability of a volunteer to open up (usually me lol) A few new bits are planned for next year so if you haven’t been along to see us this year, we hope to see you in 2024 🙂

Following a successful open day season, we only have one more day left this year. October 29th will be our last day. We open between 11am and 3pm with free entry (donations welcome). We had a very successful weekend back in September with the Heritage Open Days event. 121 visitors over the two days and plenty of positive comments in the visitors book

Lever family: Very informative and a good insight to how things were during the wars.

A Belton: Very interesting & unique Radar display & artefacts.

S Tobin: (Canada) I really enjoyed the exhibits & information. It helps to have a better understanding of the wars. Thank you.

K Winter: WOW! Thanks 🙂

Peter D: Great, Very well done.

We always take the time to speak to our visitors as it is always interesting to learn where people have travelled from and to discuss the collection. We are always striving to improve the tower as a unique attraction, the only one of 11 that is open to the public. Have a few things planned during the winter and already looking forward to open day season 2024. Hope to see you soon 🙂

May 2023 has proved to be a busy month here at the Radar Tower. A busy weekend at the beginning of May, a school visit, a visit from the ex-friends of the Imperial War Museum and another busy weekend to close the month.

St Philomena’s Catholic School, Frinton visited us on 10th May with 2 staff and 18 year 6 pupils. Following a visit to the tower, they were also shown around Beacon Hill Battery next door.

“Children (and adults) thoroughly engaged by an excellent tour from Peter (Curator). A great visit for our work on WWII – so informative”

The ex-friends of Imperial War Museum visited Harwich Redoubt, Radar Tower, Treadwheel Crane and the Electric Palace before walking to the seafront to visit the Kinder transport Memorial on the quay side by Ha’penny pier.

The last open day of May was our busiest so far this season with 73 visitors from far and wide including San Francisco, Manchester and Nottingham.

F Morgan – well researched, nice time

Mason Family – Very interesting and impressive history

Lindsey & Matt – Very interesting history, good exhibits, very informative

Our next open day is Sunday 11th June between 11am and 3pm. As always, entry is free but donations are always welcome. Please come and visit us at this unique survivor from WWII. Hope to see you there 🙂

Our best open day so far this year, with 64 visitors between 11am and 3pm. Some interesting questions, as always, and several positive comments. One visitor was impressed with the amount and balance of information available in the tower. He also appreciated the panel ‘what can you see?’ which can be found in the operations room on the middle floor. It shows photographs of what can be seen on the other side of the estuary, outside Landguard Fort.

Bethany R: Awesome to learn about local history

Allison M: I’m a Harwich girl, first time in having a look around. Really interesting

Fleur: Hidden Gem!

The tower has been an interesting journey for us, learning about Radio Direction Finding (Radar) and trying to represent the tower how it may have been seen in WWII. We are still sourcing material and information so hopefully it will continue to improve. Next open day Sunday 14th May, 11am to 3pm. Hope to see you there 🙂

Another fine day and some interesting questions from our visitors. Many visitors are from the Tendring, Colchester or Ipswich areas but one from Hartlepool this week which was the furthest until the last guy who was from Poland. The tower is proving equally interesting to adults and children alike which is good.

S Irwin: Amazing

D Avery: Excellent

King Family: I love the music!!!!! Great work!!!!! [Ed note: we have a period soundtrack playing in the background in the accommodation room – some of the hits from 1939, ’40, ’41 and ’42]

Our next open day will be Sunday 30th April between 11am and 3pm. As I also volunteer in Beacon Hill Battery on alternate Sundays, I can usually open the tower most Sundays for a small donation. Hope to see you there 🙂

The new open day season is nearly upon us. Starting on Sunday 2nd April 2023, we will be opening the tower between 11am and 3pm on alternate Sundays until the end of October.

We had a successful year in 2022 with 699 visitors, including a couple of group visits, so we hope to improve on that this year. We also collected almost £300 towards the upkeep of this historic and possibly unique building. Harwich RDF Tower is believed to be the only WWII Radar installation to still have its original array in situ.

Entry to the tower is free, but donations are always welcome. Children are encouraged to come along too, although under 16’s will need to be accompanied by an adult. Hope to see you there 🙂

Was nice to be able to sit in the sunshine to welcome visitors outside yesterday. A steady flow of visitors from the time we opened the gate until we closed, 41 in all. Coventry was the furthest this week, followed closely by Northampton and a lot of interesting questions. Still receiving positive feedback too:

Bernard O: Wonderful effort

Richard P: Fantastic exhibits

Christina P: Great! Well done

Still adding small bits each week, trying to build up a picture of what life would have been like serving in the RDF Tower. Been an interesting project so far and looking forward to opening again on Sunday 26th June between 11am and 3pm – Admission free, Donations welcome 🙂

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