大象传媒

My name is Mary Brown and I have lived in Bournemouth all my life. I am now 75 years of age and I have good recollections of the War, first when our Junior School at St Mark鈥檚 Talbot Village was taken over by French Soldiers who had escaped from France in the first evacuation.

I attended St Marks Talbot Village School until I was 11 after which I went to East Howe Girls School.

I well remember 27th March 1941 when at 12 noon the siren went off and our Headmistress, instead of keeping us at school told us to go home as quickly as possible. On the way home a German Bomber came up out of the sky and up Kinson Road, very low and flew over us as we ran as fast as we could. This Bomber saw my mother in the garden waiting for me and she saw him open his door and point his gun at her. I arrived safely and then we heard a terrific bang as the Bomber had released his bombs and had hit the gas works in Bourne Valley killing many men who were in the canteen having their lunch.

I also remember when the Metropole Hotel which was full of GI鈥檚 was hit as was the Punshon Memorial Church on Richmond Hill and the large Beales Store. This was a Sunday Lunchtime as the Bomber jettisoned his bombs over the sea.

The miracle of this raid was that St Peters Church was not to my knowledge damaged in this raid, but I am not quite sure.

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