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This story has been submitted to the People’s War site by Angela Cutting of Leicester City Libraries on behalf of Barbara Carter and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

During the war I lived on Norwood Road, Evington, Leicester with my parents and my older sister, Sheila. One night, in particular, sticks in my mind — the night a bomb was dropped on our street.

The air raid siren had sounded, but unfortunately we were unable to go into our Anderson shelter. It had rained heavily, and the shelter was flooded, so we took shelter behind the dining table which had been turned on its side. (Later, we managed to get an indoor shelter which my sister used to play table tennis on.) My most vivid memory of the incident is of what happened in our house, immediately after the bomb blast — we could hear a strange rattling and jingling noise. My mother realised what it was - all the jam jars in the cupboard suddenly started to dance about.

The ARP warden came round to see if everyone was all right, and my father went out to see the damage. Bombs had dropped onto houses only yards away, destroying one completely. Amazingly, despite all the damage caused by the bombs, there was only one casualty — a dog.

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