Walnut Radio

Mr Holley was born in Jersey in 1924, leaving school at age 14 to start work as an apprentice at W.H. Cole’s wireless shop. This was his first job, and would end up being his only job, as he worked there for 65 years.

Cole’s remained open throughout the Occupation, despite the order in 1942 making it illegal to possess a wireless set. During this time only two employees out of eight were retained at the shop.

In the early years of the Occupation, Mr Holley worked alone in the shop’s service department taking charge of all wireless repairs. When the order came to hand over wireless sets, staff at Cole’s sent in all new sets and some second-hand spares, but only those that were old and obsolete, many of their better spares were kept hidden under floorboards in the workshop. On one occasion, German soldiers carried out an extensive search of the shop premises but fortunately did not find any of the wireless sets that had been hidden. Although the shop could no longer sell radios, they continued to carry out electrical work and accumulator charging.

For the remainder of the Occupation, Mr Holley covertly helped Islanders with repairing their wireless sets so that they could continue to listen to news about the progress of the war. Sometimes customers would bring their wireless sets directly to the shop, via the back door in Waterloo Lane. Mr Holley would work on these repairs after-hours, often working until late at night. On other occasions, he would travel to people’s houses across the Island to repair their ‘sewing machines’. Mr Holley estimated that the shop produced about 90 wireless sets for customers during the Occupation and repaired hundreds more. It was a huge risk to be carrying out this work, and on one occasion, Mr Holley came very close to being stopped and searched whilst carrying out a delivery. Fortunately, a pedestrian informed him that German authorities were further ahead, and he was able to divert his route.

Mr Holley continued to work at Cole’s for many decades after the war, going on to become a partner in the business. He retired in 2002, having worked there for 65 years. Mr Holley passed away in 2011 at age 87.

The crystal radios that we have in the collection are reminders of what Islanders endured during the war years, and they allow us to keep sharing stories such as this one. Hundreds of people, like Mr Holley, put themselves at enormous risk by keeping wireless sets when this became illegal, and surviving objects, like the walnut radio, are a testament to the bravery of Islanders.