Sir Oswald & Lady Mosley visit Hobbs End - A Mean Streets Tabletop Game in 28mm.

       Sir Oswald & Lady Mosley visit Hobbs End.

                        Terrible Scenes, Many Injured, Police Attacked.

A surprise visit by Sir Oswald & Lady Mosley caused much consternation in Hobbs End yesterday, Park Road and Hobbs Park were filled with Blackshirts from all over the East End. Sir Oswald and his men have been constantly denied the use of Hobbs Hall, however, no one can stop him posing for the camera outside of the building.  

Local opposition quickly mobilised, street meetings were convened and a march against Mosley was created in the High Street, mounted police were on the scene in minutes.

With the march being halted on the High Street tensions were rising, some anti Fascists made it through to Station Road and made their way towards Hobbs Park and a line of police.

In the park the Sir Oswald was addressing the crowd, the loud cheers almost drowning out the sound of opposition as the crowd in Station Road drew near. Suddenly in High Street fighting broke out, the mounted police cracked heads left and right.

The fighting in the High Street was over quite quickly, resulting in one policeman needing medical treatment and several arrests. A few of the Communists broke through the police line and headed towards the park to disrupt the Fascist meeting. On Station Road there was considerable pushing and shoving between the police and protesters, violence was imminent.

In the blink of an eye fists, clubs and truncheons flew into action, Station Road became a mass of fighting men lashing out at one another, from Drovers Yard Police Station reinforcements were on their way. In the park Mosley was still engaging with his followers, saying how great it was to be back in Hobbs End and what a superb job the local branch was doing, at this point a surprise attack by a group of Communists made him stop mid sentence.

Station Road soon resembled a battlefield, protesters and police knocked to the ground in a vicious fight, in Hobbs Park the Communists were soon confronted by a pack of Blackshirts and were hopelessly outnumbered, it was a brave but foolhardy act on their behalf.

 Unsurprisingly the Communists were soon beaten out of the park, from the Station Road entrance several of the protestors had broken through the police line and attacked the Blackshirts one of whom was wounded with a knife. Police reinforcements from Drovers Yard and the High Street stopped the riot soon after and multiple arrests were made.

The cells at Drovers Yard will be full to bursting tonight, the hospitals will be incredibly busy too, in all 18 Communists were arrested, 6 remain in hospital, 1 Fascist is still in hospital, 6 policemen are in hospital and a police horse has a serious razor cut, but will pull through. With the end of hostilities Mosley carried on his address to his followers declaring how much he liked Hobbs End, never a dull moment apparently!

The Hobbs End Skeleton Army Take To The Streets! - A Tabletop Game In 28mm.

             

                                     SATURDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 1894

                              The Skeleton Army In Hobbs End by Jeremiah Smike

The Salvation Army's much publicised march through Hobbs End went better than expected with little disruption to local traffic and many people turning out to watch the parade. Some of the rougher elements should take heed of their slogan Soup, Soap and Salvation!

Speaking of the rougher elements, Hobbs End has not been spared the rise of the Skeleton Army. This group has sprung up in many places recently, I myself saw them in Whitechapel last year, I'd hoped Hobbs End would be spared.

Our local branch seems to be led by Zak Crouch, a man known to the police of this district for being a troublemaker. The Skeleton Army were seen in Station Road just as the Salvation Army had ended their parade and were heading into the Underground Station.

The Skeletons hoisted their banner and led by Crouch, marched in a way that was a complete contrast to the Salvation Army, they shouted obscenities, parodied the slogan of the Salvation Army declaring "Beef, Beer and Bacca" and behaved in a threatening way to passers by whilst being flanked by three mounted policemen.

When the Skeletons reached the High Street many of the ne'er do wells that hang drunkenly around The Britannia public house joined in with the shouting, a terrible display as there were several ladies and children present.

While the procession was passing King & Worthy's shop Mr King ran out to remonstrate with the Skeletons, Couch rounded on him and quick as lightning Mr King punched Crouch on the nose, the effect of which was to knock Crouch to the ground and he had to be helped up on unsteady legs.

The police came between Mr King and the rest of the Skeletons who were rather angry at this turn of events, Mr King had to be escorted back to his shop as he declared that he would "knock their b----y blocks off".

The procession carried on for a little while but the wind had been knocked out of it, maybe this will be the first and last we see of the Skeleton Army in Hobbs End.

Fascist and Communist violence plagues Hobbs End - A Mean Streets Tabletop Game in 28mm

 HOBBS END GAZETTE - SPECIAL EDITION.

This nonsense has to stop before someone is killed!

Last Saturday afternoon two rival political meetings were held at either end of Drovers Road, at one end the British Union of Fascists and at the other outside the factory gates were the Communist Party of Great Britain. Our readers will know that a few weeks ago the Fascists were quite severely beaten at this location, tensions have been high since.

At the termination of the Fascist meeting the Blackshirts formed up to march up Drovers Road past the Communists, the mounted policeman thought this was a bad idea and tried to dissuade them. Meanwhile a Fascist Defence Force van was just turning into Drovers Road from the High Street.

The other two mounted policemen who were watching the Communists now joined their colleague in trying to stop the Fascist march. The Fascist van quickly parked up and in an astonishing (we say astonishing because it actually worked!) display of misdirection the Fascists actually drew the police away from a vicious assault right under their noses. 

 While the police were in a state of confusion the Fascist marchers ran to the fray to back up their comrades, taken by surprise the Communists gave a good account of themselves but they were outnumbered, soon police reinforcements were on their way.

More Fascist tricks! The police car is blocked by the Fascist marchers who are still demanding to anyone who will listen that it is their right to march. While this is going on the Communists are starting to get a battering, but help is on it's way, with the threat of a night in the cells the Fascists finally get out of the way.

At some point in the struggle the Communist lorry caught fire, fingers have been pointed and accusations have flown from both sides, but in the confusion of flame and casualties the Fascists slipped away. Feeling smug and not a little bewildered that they actually managed to pull this attack off the Fascists were ready to exploit their enemy's misfortune and organise more meetings.

A few days later the Fascists were out in force selling their newspapers in Station Road and using the Drovers Road factory gates spot for a meeting, in Hobbs Park the Communists were getting fired up, which didn't take long as they were very annoyed anyway.

Luckily the damage to the Communist lorry was minimal and it was soon back in service, never believing it would work again, the Communists decided to use the diversion tactic the Fascists had recently used and they engaged the one policeman in conversation. Meanwhile, the newspaper sellers were about to get the shock of their lives.

With the fighting getting rather brutal young Betty is sent through the arches into Drovers Road to grab some reinforcements. From the park some Communist reinforcements are already approaching the scene.

The Fascists are now hopelessly outnumbered but fighting on, word has got back to the police station in Drovers Yard and a mounted section are on their way, eventually Fascist reinforcements arrive.

 With the police nearing the fighting got more intense, by the time the police arrived four Blackshirts had been knocked out. Not wanting to get arrested fighting stopped as soon as the police arrived and an ambulance was called. The four Blackshirts were taken to hospital and neither side pressed any charges against each other. Once the Communists were escorted away the Blackshirts were allowed to return to their headquarters.