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Geoffrey Dodds was 13 when war was declared. He kept a diary throughout the war years which documented his experiences as a schoolboy living in London during the Blitz and later enlisting in the RAF. Geoffrey was also a keen and accomplished bellringer. Selected extracts are reproduced below with explanatory notes in brackets:

7 Dec 1939 - Tom [brother]came home in workmate's car in borrowed clothes. He had walked into the canal [off towpath in the blackout. Tom was conscripted and trained at Chelsea Barracks but for months frequently came home for leave and in the evenings. Throughout this period Geoffrey mentions regular changes in the teaching staff at his school, as various teachers were called away for wartime duties].

3 Sept 1940 - About 1.00 am a bomber flying east overhead jettisoned his bombs. We were asleep in our air raid shelter. The first bomb landed in the school grounds, behind the fence opposite our house, smashing open our front door with its catch. Several bomb splinters went throught the house, all the large front windows and two back windows went ... Bomb no.2 exploded in a large tree in the Grove ...Bomb no.3 set fire to a garage and knocked the back off a house in Avenue Road... Ours were the first bombs in the area, so very many people chose our roads for their Sunday stroll. Dad replacing front windows found his work slowed describing to all who asked, exactly what happened.

Christmas Day 1940 - Had lamb (7/-) instead of turkey (拢1)! Listened to King's speech and some inter-county broadcasts, evacuees to parents.

[Aged 15, Geoffrey had been recuited into the School Air Training Corps Squadron no.1185, and regularly undertook paid fire watches, paid 4/6 for 3.]

3 February 1942 - Mr Biggars thinks that our handbells would be a good substitute for a bugle call for the ATC.

6 Feb 1942 - Ban on bells, except for invasion or parachutists.

15 Nov 1942 - El Alamein Victory. Rang Isleworth bells, open by Churchill's request.

27 May 1943 - Ban on bells lifted.

21 Nov 1943 - Had an interview at the Air Ministry where I was told my first choice of University, London, had no Short Courses. The Flight Lieutenant asked me 'Why not try for Cambridge?'. I'd never thought so high. He suggested I write to a senior tutor to force RAF's hand, and suggested Emmanuel College.

19 Jan 1944 - Heard from Cambridge, application form and a very noncommital letter 'Far too many men are trying to get in by the near blackmail of a Service Short Course... However we will accept you....

6 Feb 1944 - Wrote a letter to RAF telling them of my acceptance at Emmanuel, Cambridge (which would ensure that RAF would send me there).

[Geoffrey then went on to complete the RAF Officer Aircrew Short Course, Cambridge].

6 June 1944 - D-Day. Heard German claim of start.. then heard the news in the Clubroom. All of us took it very quietly, tensely - one was almost overcome with the moment and had a job keeping back the tears. It feels as if we have closed one volume of the book and opened the next, the previous volume disappearing to distant memory.

30 June 1944 - Interruptions to Isleworth bell practice due to alerts when doodlebugs came our way. All London's barrage balloons had been redeployed in a long E-W line across South London with linking cables, forming a loose screen. From the roof of the tower the west end of the screen was clearly seen south of Kingston. We saw a doodlebug fly over Twickenham and as it approached Hounslow the motor cut and it began weaving out of control.. until it stalled, dived and exploded in a column of dust and smoke.

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