Select a region
When he was a 14-year-old apprentice, Keith Tostevin was sent to work on the electrics in a bunker in Guernsey. He was told not to tell anyone what he was doing there, a secret he kept until his 80th birthday last week...
Mr Tostevin was surrounded by family members for his special birthday - from his youngest grandson, who is just 14 months old, all the way up.
Some had travelled from Canada, the USA and UK to join him for a day of celebration.
He hired a coach to take them on a tour of the island he clearly loves and he asked us to join them at Pleinmont where Paul Bourgaize from Festung Guernsey was going to open up the bunker for the first time in decades.
Mr Bourgaize and Mr Tostevin both said the bunker had probably been officially locked up since the 1960s having been used for storage by the States at one point.
It had been broken into intermittently over the years since with some graffiti dating back to the 1950s and 80s.
More recently someone had unsuccessfully tried to break open a padlock put on the bunker by Festung Guernsey volunteers, who give up their own time to look after Occupation structures.
Mr Tostevin had never told his family about his work in the bunker as a teenager.
He had been told not to tell anyone that he and a colleague were wiring it up. He has always believed it was so the island had somewhere secure to be used by designated officials in the event of a nuclear bomb during the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s.
This week he revealed how he had been chosen to do the work simply because he was available.
Pictured: Some relics inside the bunker.
"He came into the office and said the States of Guernsey have asked for a bunker to be wired up with electricity and a generator and can you select two people that will do that, and they must keep it a secret. So we didn't ask any questions more than that - off we went, and for a whole week we were working here putting in lighting and a generator."
Young Keith rode his 50cc motorbike all the way from his home in St Sampson to Pleinmont, to what is now known as the Batterie Generaloberst Dollman. It had been built during the Occupation intending to be used as a naval lookout, but was never used for that purpose.
Instead it stood empty until Friday 21 July 2023, when former electrician's apprentice Keith Tostevin returned with his three children, grandchildren, Mr Bourgaize, reporters and photographers.
Now a retired granddad, Mr Tostevin has more energy than many his age. Recently he was a Douzenier for his home parish of St Sampson and before that he was involved in the Young Business Group.
That came about after he took over his own business at just 17.
Pictured: The lights Mr Tostevin wired up are still in place and working, 66 years on.
He had finished his apprenticeship and had a new employer when that company went bust. Mr Tostevin said his work ethic had ensured he was given regular work before that which helped him in his own business.
"We were a generation that if we were told to do something, you obeyed them if it came from your elders. We were told not to talk about it (the bunker), so we didn't.
"All I suddenly thought was I'd like to do something different for my birthday."
Pictured: Graffiti in the bunker, some of which is dated 1980 (Stephen and Jonathan Axbey (sic) ) and 1956.
Recalling how he went into business at 17-years-old he explained how he learned his employer had struggled with money problems.
"...the sheriff came along and said you won't get paid, there's no money. I thought about it and I could do the job so I took it over. I went on to have my own business - L'islet and Fountain Electrics. Some people will remember them, and me.
"But I always wondered about this bunker. If it was to be used for the Cold War if a nuclear bomb went off, what have we got now?"
Mr Tostevin spoke to Mr Bourgaize to ask if Festung Guernsey had access to the bunker at Pleinmont. At first he said they did, then they didn't because the key was lost - but then access was regained.
"...about two weeks ago he came back and said it will be OK for the day," said Mr Tostevin.
Pictured: The bunker has German writing and graffiti on some of the walls.
Mr Bourgaize brought a generator along and met the extended Tostevin family for the big reveal. They still didn't know what was happening though.
"Today I kept saying 'We're gonna have a group photograph taken', so I said 'be prepared for it'," said Mr Tostevin.
"We've had my daughter and son in law have been travelling America. They've come back from America, my two grandchildren Jody and Elliot, they live now working in Canada and my other younger daughter, who's got this lovely 14 month old baby. And she works in the International Salvation Army in London.
"So it's all worked out...the thing is, you know, throughout life I've been very active. In early years when when I had my own business, I set up the young businessman's group with a 17-year-old me looking at people my age now 'Oh, what a load of old men', you know, 'we've always done it this way, we've always done that', and so the first thing I organised was the water carnival on the sea, and the next thing I was in Fountain Street, that was our first shop."
As a town trader, Mr Tostevin was involved in setting up the Christmas lights displays in town, and raising the funding. He opened a second shop and had his family.
Pictured: Mr Tostevin and his children and grandchildren.
"If I say I'm going to do something, it takes a lot not to do so," he laughs.
From the outside it doesn't look very big, but as the extended Tostevin family entered it transpired that the bunker had a maze of rooms, including bathrooms, escape hatches and staircases down to lower floors. While the very bottom floor was flooded, the rest was passable with family members and reporters spreading throughout.
Mr Tostevin said it was all very familiar.
"I did that," he said, pointing out some of his handiwork. "I remember it all right."
Mr Bourgaize said Festung Guernsey had not done any work in this bunker except ensure it was locked. They do lots of work at other bunkers across the islands, all on a voluntary basis.
He said this bunker has been broken into over the years and likely used as a place for parties but officially it has not been used by the States for decades and there is no record of work taking place there since Mr Tostevin and his colleague wired it up in the 1950s.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.