too â I should have gone straight to the shelter, it didnât matter about the false alarms, there was no time to hang about, and all the rest. Anybody would have thought that the warning was all my fault!
So nursing my lump I picked my way over the rubble of the wall. Chrissie was already down in the shelter, she had shot out there as soon as I had said the word, and Fred was behind me fussing. I got to the door and was just about to take the first step down when there was an almighty thump and I found myself laying flat on the lump in the middle of the floor. A bomb had landed about 50 yards away! Luckily it hadnât exploded, but just the force of hitting the ground had made the thump and there was a crater in the road. Boy did we jump into that shelter. There was only a dirt floor and nothing to sit on. I mean, up until then we had not taken it very seriously so there were no preparations or efforts to make it comfortable.
We werenât there long, because once they realised about the unexploded bomb we all had to move out. They tried to move us down to the local school which had been opened to provide emergency accommodation, but I did notfancy that. Instead Fred took me down to my mumâs which was on the other side of Stratford.
We hadnât been there long either when my brother came in from work. He worked in the same place as Fred, down in the docks area, but because of the bombing they had been sent home. He was an amazing sight, ever so scruffy and untidy, but BLACK! Because of the bombing there were no buses so he had to walk home. But that meant walking all the way through the docks which had been the main target. Wherever he went there were fires and wreckage, and many of the roads had been closed but the firemen let him through because he was trying to get home. By the time he had walked in, through and past all these fires, he was totally black.
He was going out with a girl in Canning Town at the time, and of course that had got more of a pasting than us even. As soon as he got cleaned up he wanted to go out again to see if she was alright. Mum started kicking up a fuss about the danger and how he should stay at home. In the end Fred came up with the solution â he put a saucepan lid inside my brotherâs cap to protect him! It did not fit in very easily and goodness knows how he kept it on his head. I do not think I had laughed so much for years but it made Mum happier so he left.
Then the warning went again. We did not mess about this time but headed straight for the shelter. To be honest, Mumâs shelter wasnât worth the bother. It was only set a few inches into the soil and there was barely any soil on top of it, just about enough to grow some lettuces later in the war if I remember rightly. Still, we got into it, or would have done if it had been big enough. Just like Auntyâs back in Keogh Road it had no furniture or other comforts, though they would have made it more cramped. Fred stood just outside and whenever he heard a bomb coming close he would squeeze inside the door.
We spent the night like that. It was the most terrible night. Next morning we went back home but they still wouldnât let us in because the bomb hadnât been dealt with. I cannot remember what we did but we must have got back sometime that day. That was the first day of the Blitz.
It was all a pretty terrifying experience and I must admit that after a little while I thought that we had really had enough. I just couldnât see how we could possibly carry on having hell knocked out of us every night and I was all in favour of Mr Churchill asking for peace on whatever terms were available. I even said as much to Fred, but he didnât reply. Then one day I went up to London with him. The Swimming Club had all sorts of silver cups and trophies and it had been decided that these should be put into safe custody in some bigbank up in the City. There had been a raid the night before
So nursing my lump I picked my way over the rubble of the wall. Chrissie was already down in the shelter, she had shot out there as soon as I had said the word, and Fred was behind me fussing. I got to the door and was just about to take the first step down when there was an almighty thump and I found myself laying flat on the lump in the middle of the floor. A bomb had landed about 50 yards away! Luckily it hadnât exploded, but just the force of hitting the ground had made the thump and there was a crater in the road. Boy did we jump into that shelter. There was only a dirt floor and nothing to sit on. I mean, up until then we had not taken it very seriously so there were no preparations or efforts to make it comfortable.
We werenât there long, because once they realised about the unexploded bomb we all had to move out. They tried to move us down to the local school which had been opened to provide emergency accommodation, but I did notfancy that. Instead Fred took me down to my mumâs which was on the other side of Stratford.
We hadnât been there long either when my brother came in from work. He worked in the same place as Fred, down in the docks area, but because of the bombing they had been sent home. He was an amazing sight, ever so scruffy and untidy, but BLACK! Because of the bombing there were no buses so he had to walk home. But that meant walking all the way through the docks which had been the main target. Wherever he went there were fires and wreckage, and many of the roads had been closed but the firemen let him through because he was trying to get home. By the time he had walked in, through and past all these fires, he was totally black.
He was going out with a girl in Canning Town at the time, and of course that had got more of a pasting than us even. As soon as he got cleaned up he wanted to go out again to see if she was alright. Mum started kicking up a fuss about the danger and how he should stay at home. In the end Fred came up with the solution â he put a saucepan lid inside my brotherâs cap to protect him! It did not fit in very easily and goodness knows how he kept it on his head. I do not think I had laughed so much for years but it made Mum happier so he left.
Then the warning went again. We did not mess about this time but headed straight for the shelter. To be honest, Mumâs shelter wasnât worth the bother. It was only set a few inches into the soil and there was barely any soil on top of it, just about enough to grow some lettuces later in the war if I remember rightly. Still, we got into it, or would have done if it had been big enough. Just like Auntyâs back in Keogh Road it had no furniture or other comforts, though they would have made it more cramped. Fred stood just outside and whenever he heard a bomb coming close he would squeeze inside the door.
We spent the night like that. It was the most terrible night. Next morning we went back home but they still wouldnât let us in because the bomb hadnât been dealt with. I cannot remember what we did but we must have got back sometime that day. That was the first day of the Blitz.
It was all a pretty terrifying experience and I must admit that after a little while I thought that we had really had enough. I just couldnât see how we could possibly carry on having hell knocked out of us every night and I was all in favour of Mr Churchill asking for peace on whatever terms were available. I even said as much to Fred, but he didnât reply. Then one day I went up to London with him. The Swimming Club had all sorts of silver cups and trophies and it had been decided that these should be put into safe custody in some bigbank up in the City. There had been a raid the night before
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