Bodmin Keep War Stories

Two world wars, intelligence training, an influx of Americans and a mishap with a hungry dog and a crocodile handbag - all part of the rich history of Bodmin Keep.

When the building was first erected in 1859 it was a blueprint for a modern and healthy training centre. Since then, thousands of troops have come here to ready themselves for duty, before being despatched to all corners of the globe. It's been a depot, a training centre, a spy school and a home for 100s of GI's.

In this episode, we'll find out why Winston Churchill raised eyebrows when he paid a visit to Bodmin Keep, we'll hear what impressionable posh boys learned from their more streetwise room mates, and we'll discover exactly how much a typical soldier could tuck into for breakfast at the barracks.

Two men whose fathers served here during the years of National Service recall how the barracks could be a Boy's Own adventure for those not forced into lengthy drills. And Bill Stevens, who was adjutant in the 1950s, recalls what could have been a very expensive and embarrassing mistake.

It's now more than 20 years since the ban on gay people serving in the armed forces was lifted. But what was it like for gay and lesbian people serving before that? We hear about the lives of gay men in the two great wars, how the army was an escape from society's heterosexual norms for lesbians and what museums are doing today to make their collections more representative of everyone who has served their country - gay or straight. And a gay soldier tells us how joining the army gave him the strength to finally become his real self.

War leaves mental scars as well as physical ones and for many veterans, the battle does not always end when the fighting stops. In this episode we chart the changing attitudes to mental health conditions caused by the impact of conflict; from Florence Nightingale's pioneering support for traumatised soldiers in the Crimean War to present day veterans who, even now, can take years to reach out for help for themselves and their families. And we'll hear about a powerful film - Combat Stress 100 - in which former servicemen and women speak out for the first time about their crippling mental health conditions. Trigger warning. This podcast contains reference to military trauma and PTSD

The huge contribution of servicemen and women of colour through the centuries and across the world bolstered British forces in nearly every conflict, and in supporting the building of the British Empire. But so often that skill and loyalty has been overlooked and at times even resented.

In this episode military historian Barry Renfrew explains just how vital the contribution of soldiers of colour has been throughout British military history. Author Kate Werran tells the incredible story of a World War II gun battle between black and white soldiers in Launceston. Bodmin Keep's trainee curator Isabella Hogan tells the real story of the infamous Siege of Lucknow in India in 1857 and Black Voices Cornwall co-founder Marcus Alleyne reveals what it was like to be a black serviceman in the Royal Navy in more recent times.

From refugees fleeing the ravages of war-torn Europe in World War I to modern asylum seekers, Cornwall has welcomed people seeking sanctuary across the generations.

Cornwall's proximity to the French coast made the county a natural destination for those seeking sanctuary over 100 years ago. In this episode we hear how Cornish folk shouldered the burden of the First World War effort by welcoming refugees from Belgium, and later Jewish people escaping persecution.

In the Second World War, hundreds of children made Cornwall their temporary home as young evacuees in World War II. Many of them spent their formative years in villages by the sea before having to return to their home cities which had been ravaged by bombing raids.

And today, local people still welcome those fleeing war and persecution and support them in securing a safe and healthy life for themselves and their families.