A VETERAN of radar development in wartime Malvern will be talking about his experiences at a one-day conference in Worcester.

"Worcestershire and the Second World War" will take place at County Hall on Saturday, November 18.

Among the speakers will be Donald Tomlin, who developed the GL3 gun- laying radar as a wartime engineer.

"My talk will be about the effects that the arrival of the radar organisations had on the town and the county," he said.

TRE and the other bodies came to Malvern when it was decided to move them away from the coast in case the Germans tried to emulate the Bruneval commando raid.

"Malvern was ill-equipped to host an invasion of scientists," said Mr Tomlin, "They and their families had to be accommodated in houses which were divided to make rather unsatisfactory flats."

After the war, when it was decided the radar establishment should stay in Malvern, something had to be done.

Mr Tomlin said: "The council was reluctant to help, so the Ministry stepped in and houses were built off Pickersleigh Road, in Clerkenwell Crescent and in other areas."

Names such as Bawdsey Avenue and Orford Way commemorate the locations of previous radar bases.

Radar also brought electricity to Malvern in a big way.

"Like most small towns then Malvern did not have much in the way of power," said Mr Tomlin. "Our needs were much greater, so cables were laid from Worcester and Gloucester, and this became the basis of the town's power supply until it was connected up to the National Grid.

"In October 1945, we had a demonstration of some of our inventions on the Link Common to show the people of malvern what we had been doing all this time. Someone had a transmitter which he was using to cook potatoes. I believe it was the World's first demonstration of microwave cookery."

Among the other talks will be one on Women's Land Army and a personal account of the Dunkirk evacuation.

The conference will also include a book stall and information about contacts and historical societies.

Places for the conference are still available, at £15 (with lunch) or £10 (without). For more details, call 01905 766352.