Never Judge A Butcher By His Apron!

You could easily be forgiven for mistaking the young man with slicked back hair, trimmed moustache and impish grin who wields a chopping knife and expertly fillets a chicken for Private Walker from the iconic British comedy series, Dad’s Army.

Plato is the perfect example of why you should never judge a book by its cover, or a butcher by his apron. It turns out that he knows more about the goings-on on the wartime ‘Home Front’ then most. Plato is a local history buff with a passion for uncovering WW2’s hidden secrets.

'Britain's Secret Army', also known as Churchill’s Underground Army, is still possibly one of the best kept wartime secrets. During the Second World War, Britain had its own resistance network known as the GHQ Auxiliary Units. Made up of local men, they were trained in underground resistance, equipped with firearms, explosives and booby-traps. In the event of invasion, they were instructed to ‘stay underground’ and to emerge each night to cause chaos and disruption for the enemy as long as they could, before being caught or killed. During WW2, Bodiam Castle was used as a main base camp and a tunnel system was constructed to allow the British resistance to blow-up the railway lines between Hastings and Eastbourne and London, to stop the Germans getting from the coast to the capital in the event of a land invasion.

Plato tells me, ‘We realised that a tunnel system and any bunker would need to be positioned relatively close to the railway lines. So, to find the bunker we also guessed that an escape tunnel leading to it might be near a stream. If the enemy used dogs to chase the British insurgents a stream would help wash away some of their scent.’

‘After a lot of background research, we got permission to go onto some property we had a hunch about. In the middle of the woods, we found a big green wall about 3 foot thick and 15 foot long. It looked odd and out of place and, on closer inspection, we found it was a humungous piece of concrete with ivy growing over the top! As I pulled back the ivy, my foot hit something in the undergrowth; it was a 1940s bleach bottle in mint condition. We pulled the ivy back more – and found the entrance to a tunnel.’

‘About four foot high by shoulder width it’s, obviously, pitch black in there. We shone our torches to reveal massive spiders - at which point I nearly screamed, ‘I’m a butcher get me out of here!’ – and a purpose-built brick tunnel. We crawled through the passageway, burrowing like badgers, and every five metres or so it bent round and dropped down a level. When my dodgy knees finally gave in, we decided that we were going quite far and deep, and that we must also be quite mad, so my mate had to pull me back out. Although we didn’t make it all the way, we’re convinced that we did find the escape run tunnel to the bunker. The location of the bunker isn’t recorded anywhere – it’s a resistance secret. And we’re going to keep it that way!’

Like a Boy’s Own hero Plato’s enthusiasm is captivating. His love of history was sparked from his early childhood when he went out exploring with his dad; favourite discoveries include arrow heads from Crowhurst’s flint-making heritage, roman coins, part of a Norman helmet in a stream in Battle and a sword and a cleaver in the Crowhurst clay. He loves researching, visiting museums, or talking to other people interested in local history. He gets a thrill from discovering and unearthing secrets, or things that have been long hidden.

Plato freely admits he’s an unlikely archaeologist. ‘With Dyslexia and ADHD, I could never sit still so I learnt in a different way. The only things I understood at school were music and mechanics. My mechanics teacher picked up on my ‘learning challenges’ where other teachers didn’t. He used to say, ‘Plato knows what he’s doing, he just can’t express it in the same way as other kids in the class.’

Plato lives with his fiancé and eight-year-old daughter. He encourages her to learn in a different way too. There’s no TV in their home, but there’s always music - BB King, Blues or Reggae. ‘My daughter plays computer games for 20 minutes then, when she’s finished her homework, we encourage her to read books, which she loves. I often say, ‘I challenge you to read this book before bedtime’ and she’ll smash it. She’s amazing at reading. Wish I was that good! She doesn’t have a phone yet - definitely not! She also likes the idea of finding and discovering things. She’s interested in the outdoors, so I take her out bush-crafting, she has her own hammock and loves to drink hot chocolate warmed over firewood.’

Like many of us Plato’s career has followed a twisty path, first qualifying as a veterinarian nurse, then working as a painter and decorator before becoming a butcher. ‘I’ve been on a wiggly road and now I’ve got a family and it’s a different road. I think butchery is a skill people will always need.’  But he’s still on his adventures - and growing, learning and sharing them. He’s passionate about bushcraft and teaching people how to survive outside - how to start a fire using sappy oil – and, particularly, in helping autistic kids to enjoy camping and the outside safely.

We all have talents, skills, passions, but all too often we don’t discover them at school, or even later in life. Take a lesson in life from Plato and uncover your own secret path.