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This story was submitted to the People’s War Website by a volunteer from Derby CSV Action Desk on behalf of Mrs Waldron and has been added with her permission. She fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I remember a bomb falling in the middle of Chaddesden Park. It was aiming for the railway sidings but landed in the park instead, it left a hole big enough for 2 buses to fit in and just missed some houses. I was at home at the time sitting on a cushion on the floor under the stairs and the floor went up and down. My father was a goods guard and was working (never there when you needed him!) and our neighbour called through the letterbox ‘Are you alright?’ Next morning we discovered one of our windows was out.

We did try to dig out for a shelter in the garden, but our house was on a hill and the hole just filled up with water so we had to shelter under the stairs instead.

I went to school at Morley Road and we were not allowed to go there until the shelters were built so we went in little groups to people’s houses for our lessons. We met in someone’s garage and it was reported in the Derby Evening Telegraph.

We had to carry gas masks and identity cards with us at all times.

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