WITH never before seen footage recently coming to light of Sir Winston Churchill inspecting rehearsals on a North Devon beach for the D-Day landings, it is a reminder that similar practices took place in Pembrokeshire and in particular on Wiseman's Bridge beach.

One local, Bill Veal, of Hunters Cottage, St. Bride's Hill, has two treasured paintings in his collection, painted by a local lady whose mother used to own the Wisemans Bridge Inn and can recall Churchill and the Allied commanders being served tea on the inn's lawn.

"These two paintings, one of the pub itself and one of nearby Step Cottage, were given to me by a local lady, Olive Cooke, whose mother owned the Wisemans Bridge Inn, and they would have been done around the time that the beach at Wiseman's Bridge was used as a practice location for the Normandy landings in 1943 under the watchful eyes of Churchill, Eisenhower and Montgomery themselves," explained Bill.

The secret footage that has not been seen since the Second World War of the American troops rehearsing on Woolacombe beach and Braunton Burrows in Devon, shot between October 1943 and June 1944, shows Churchill and future president Dwight Eisenhower visiting the troops a few weeks before they were sent to Normandy.

The collection of 10-minute reels is to go on show in Britain for the first time after being unearthed by a former BBC technician, Tony Koorlander.

"Mrs. Cooke kindly gave me these oil paintings a few years ago, which was a timely reminder of the D-Day rehearsals in Wisemans Bridge. I was honoured to receive them and they have become treasured possessions at my home," added Bill.