大象传媒

This story was submitted to the Peoples War site by Gillian Ridley for Three Counties Action on behalf of Mrs Daphne Farr and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

It was September 1940 the air raid warning went off as it did most evenings. Mum and us two kids (well teenagers realy) all went down into the Anderson shelter, which was underground at the bottom of our garden in St Catherines Ave (bottom end). Dad was standing on the path talking to the neighbours on either side of us. Mum saw a flash and called up complaining that Dad shouldn't use the tourch (she had it herself), at almost the same time the blast went off and Dad was blasted down the steps into the Anderson shelter, luckily he wasn't badly injured. The blast was caused by a land mine in Park street Luton.

In April 1941, I had been to the pictures in Luton, I was walking home along Dunstable Road and Leagrave Road heading for the bottom of Selbourne Road. There were people facing me looking towards Luton saying "cor look at that, London's getting it tonight" we stopped and turned and saw flares reaching up and the sky was all lit up.

I remember a friend of mine who lived in Sundon Village who worked in the Co-op in Marsh Road. He was cycling home from work one evening when he was stopped by either a Policeman or an Air Raid Warden I'm not sure which, who complained that the light on his bicycle was too bright, my friend said "hang on this is only one candle power" he opened the light which was covered in brown paper, which had the regulation 1/2 inch hole in the middle for the light to shine through, revealing one little candle lighting his way.

Smoke stoves where lit up around a full moon, and did they sink? They made clothing and curtains black also the inside of your nostrils, I don't like to think what they were burning in them. They were set up around Luton to hide the town.
I also remmber the Pig bins for household waste, vegatables, they were used for cattle feed, you'd have them dotted all the way down the road every thee or four houses. They were still in use until about the 1950's.

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