The Ashford Mark IV Female tank Ashford's tank was built in 1916, but it is believed it never saw active service. The tank was presented to the Town on 1 August 1919 by Captain Ferrar of the Army Council, in recognition of the splendid response to the National War Savings Appeals. The Tank was delivered to Ashford West Railway Station (Off Godinton Road) and was driven to St George's Square. Sadly, in 1929, the back of the tank was removed, as well as all the mechanical workings inside, and an electricity sub station was installed inside the tank. However, this probably saved the tank, as many were either scrapped as they became forgotten relics between the wars, or were melted down for the war effort of World War Two. The electricity sub-station was closed in 1968. In 1978 and ten years later in 1988 The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers REME carried out some minor works to the tank, including replacing the guns and painting the tank in its original colours. A canopy was built over the tank to protect it. In 2005, the Council commissioned a local engineer (Mr Keith Williamson) to carry out major refurbishment of the tank. The Tank Museum at Bovington was very helpful and allowed Mr Williamson access to their tank in the museum, and supplied a number of drawings showing all the dimensions of the tank. The refurbishment included removing all of the rust from inside the tank, and repainting with a rust inhibitor, bracing the sides of the tank (as it has no floor), repairing any cracks in the structure, refabricating a complete back end which is a complete replica of the original tank, and repainting the tank. The tank is a Registered War Memorial (Reference No 43725), it was rededicated prior to Remembrance Day 2006, in the presence of Damien Green, the British Legion, representatives of the Council and the engineers who completed the work. What are the smaller white marking on the side ? and a picture of you with the tank would be nice,but having your face in the picture is not a requirement, To claim this cache please send me the answer to the question via my profile
“If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Just-us-Two know first at justustwo1013@gmail.com so they can keep track of the memorial numbers and names to avoid any duplication.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.