大象传媒

On the night of September 27th 1940, we had spent some three hours waiting for the "All Clear". This was at number 12 Hardwick Road, Meadvale. We heard planes passing overhead, presumably German, about 11.00 pm. The All Clear sounded about 11.15pm.

My father took the dog for a 'wee' walk, Mother wanted to lock the shed and use the outside loo, and I, already dressed for bed, went upstairs.

Luckily, I had some sort of premonition and dived beneath the bedclothes just seconds before a loud bang brought bits of ceiling down. When all that stopped, I came up for air, and looked up at the stars!

Getting out of bed, I made my way in the dark down the stairs, to find the lower doors at funny angles.

A male voice called "Is anyone there? I'm an Air Raid Warden". "A bomb has gone off in your back garden".

He shone a torch through a large hole in the brickwork and helped me through. I then discovered I was bare-footed! I told him where to find some shoes. In the meantime another warden asked if anyone else was in the house, and the two of them found my mother holding the loo door, across the other side of the back yard. She was taken to hospital as were a couple more from other houses.

It appears that a second delayed-action bomb had fallen at the same time, landing in the garden of a house to the left of ours and in a road running on a line with Hardwick Road.

The wardens were aware of that bomb, but not the second one.

My mother's life was saved by the fact that at the top of our garden there was a very tall yew hedge. It grew across most of the area leaving a pathway to get to the house.

The bomb had fallen just a few feet away, the hedge prevented heavy damage to the whole house.

In all, seven houses had to be demolished, leaving some on the opposite side with roof slates missing and broken windows.

The canary, now blackened by soot was rescued and the landlord of the nearby public house, the 'Old Oak', opened up and invited all those families with pets and a few belongings to spend the night in the comfort of his hostelry.

Overnight, the 'vultures' visited, taking items from our house. Two being our much used small gramaphone and a large box of wax cylindrical records.

These were in a cupboard next to the fireplace in the front room. They were taking a risk as the whole structure seen in the light of day was at an angle.

My brother, home on leave from the Navy, took a mate and together they managed to get most of the furniture out, including the piano!

The mate then moved it all to the area above the Meadvale garage for storage.

Meadvale had taken in evacuees from London, and we relied on the kindness of those few neighbours to give us shelter.

The local council were unable to help. I do not know where the majority of the neighbours went.

I joined the WAAF in the following January to make living easier, but on coming home on leave in later months found my parents in different rooms each time.

Through the death of one elderly lady, a house became available and my parents took up the offer of getting a permanent home with a garden in Meadvale.

Three detached houses, with garages were built on the site where once stood seven, two lots of semi-detached and three together.

I never did get to see the crater!

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