June Brewsletter: Courage in a Time of Conflict – The Brewery During WWII

June Brewsletter 2025

As the long summer days fill the brewery yard with activity, it’s a fitting time to look back on a very different chapter in our history. With recent commemorations for VE Day and 80 years since the end of the war, we’re reminded of the immense hardship the Second World War brought to families and businesses across the country and Batemans was no exception. Yet, as always, our story from that time isn’t just one of endurance, it’s one of rising to the occasion.

Harry Bateman, true to his character, wasn’t content to simply carry on with the day-to-day. Quietly and without fuss, he joined a secret wartime resistance organisation, one of the local “stay-behind” units that were set up to cause disruption in the event of a potential invasion. The Lincolnshire group operated out of Canwick Hall under the codename ‘Ormskirk’, and Harry signed the Official Secrets Act to be part of it.

His commitment went well beyond paperwork. In his own garden, Harry hid transmitters, grenades, anti-tank weapons and machine guns , tools of defence that would have been vital had the unthinkable happened. He also gave permission for some of our pubs to house Air Force crews and ground staff, and the field behind the Brewery was used for military purposes too. It’s strange to picture it now, barrels and bottles replaced by camouflage and kit, but that was the reality of those uncertain days.

Harry knew full well what was at stake. If an invasion had come and he’d been discovered, the consequences would have been fatal, but he did it anyway. That spirit, quiet bravery, service to community, and getting stuck in without seeking applause, has always been at the heart of Batemans.

Although the invasion never came, the war left its mark. Wainfleet was largely spared the worst of the bombing, but not entirely. One night, a German bomber returning from Coventry dropped its load on the town centre. Tragically, the blast killed the local baker and his wife—who, in a poignant twist of fate, lived in what had once been the home of the Gunson Brewery family.

We are proud of how Harry and his staff played their part. His story is just one chapter in a long book of resilience and community that continues to this day. And while we’re more used to hops than hand grenades these days, that same spirit of determination still runs through everything we do.

Until next month, cheers, and thanks for reading.