A SEARCH by a Swindon author Brian Bridgeman for information about local people who fought in the Spanish Civil War led him to former railway worker Ken Gibbs and into an intriguing link between the works and the struggle against General Franco's fascists.

Several Swindonians fought in Spain with Republicans who were attempting to repel Nationalists.

But the evidence Brian found convinces him that ordinary working-class workers in Swindon also did their bit.

He believes that employees from the railway works were involved in an operation to convert a motor van into an armour-plated ambulance which was then sent to the Republicans.

Brian said: "In the early works there was this group of people who wanted to send aid to Spain but they were unpopular and called communists.

"At the time this sort of thing was frowned upon and people were secretive about what they did."

Now former railway worker Ken Gibbs has written to Mr Bridgeman and told him how he can remember seeing the ambulance when he was a boy of six.

Mr Gibbs said: "I remember standing at the front gate of our house in Montague Street with my father waiting for something which turned out to be this ambulance which he said was going to Spain.

"As I recall the vehicle probably an ordinary van had been converted and was covered in places with steel sheet. I understand it had been financed by the local Communist Party and fitted out by them.

"I clearly remember seeing it driving along the road showing the people of the area what had been pur- chased and what was being done towards the medical requirements for the Spanish Republicans.

"It was a smallish van with red crosses painted on," said Mr Gibbs, 71, of The Mall, Swindon.

"My dad told me it was armour plated or reinforced with steel plates."

Mr Gibbs, the fourth generation of his family to work in the rail works, said there was no evidence to suggest that the ambulance had been built in the works.

But there was a lot of support for the Communist Party in those days and it was likely that the skill and expertise of rail workers had been used to convert the vehicle.

Mr Gibbs said: "I believe the vehicle was purely a local effort and that it was probably driven to the coast, put on a container and shipped to Spain."

Mr Bridgeman, who is a member of the Swindon Society is hoping other readers of the Evening Advertiser will recall seeing the ambulance or have information about it.

He is also interested in receiving information about men from Swindon and other parts of Wiltshire who actually fought in the Civil War.

Brian Bridgeman knows that there were at least eight Wiltshire men including three or four from Swindon who fought in the War.

He says the men all fought between 1936 and 1939 . He already knows quite a lot about one of them, the remarkable Prof Ralph Bates who is now aged 101 and lives in New York with his second wife.

He was born in Morse Street on November 3, 1899, into a working class Swindon family.

A gifted scholar he attended the Swindon and North Wilts Secondary School in Victoria Road and became fluent in French and Spanish.

He started his working life, just as his father had done, as a fitter in the railworks.

But he left Swindon in the 1920's to work as a docker in Spain and later a travelling mechanic.

Ralph's strong socialist leanings led him to take a front-line role in the Spanish Civil War which started in 1936.

He had always been interested in Spanish Republican politics and later became a captain in the Loyalist Army and International Brigade, Madrid sector.

When Franco's forces were victorious he escaped to America where he later became Professor of Literature at New York University.

Ralph's memories include recollections of mobs of anarchists armed with clubs wrapped in barbed wire battling with soldiers.

Brian has also managed to find out some details about Ronald H Bates Ralph's brother, who also went to fight in Spain from his home in Quarry Road.

Apparently Mr Bates returned to Britain in December 1938 and is then believed to have gone to live in Reading.

Another Swindon fighter was Percival Williams who lived in Theobald Street and died of his wounds in Spain in 1938.

Mr Bridgeman said a wreath bearing Spanish National colours was laid at his memorial in Whitworth Road Cemet-ery in 1986.

Other Wiltshire men who joined the war included James Albrington from Salisbury who was one of the first volunteers to join the International Brigade, Harold Cosh from Westbury and Eric Edney from Wootton Rivers, near Marlbor-ough.

Anyone who knows anything the ambulance or about the men who fought in the war are asked to contact Mr Bridgeman at 69, Sandringham Road, Swindon, SN3 IHT.