大象传媒

My name is Alan Cook and I was just six when the second world war started. The house where I lived was in Salisbury Street which was close to Sunderland Town Centre. Opposite my house the main railway line ran transporting coal and other materials to and from the ships which berthed at the dock. All during the bombardment of Sunderland the enemy planes were aiming for this line and although they seemed to bomb many areas around it, there was never a direct hit.

My family shared an air raid shelter with next door neighbours so there was usually 10 in the shelter plus two dogs and a cat. My gran never came with us, she was an invalid so she just hid under the stairs in the house.

The night that really stays in my mind was a raid on April 15th 1941 destroying the Victoria concert Hall situated in Toward Road and causing massive damage to the surrounding houses and shops. The impact of the parachute mine was felt by everyone on our shelter as it was only a quarter of a mile away from the bomb site. Everyone felt the shelter move and we were deafened by the bang. After the initial shock I could hardly wait for the 鈥淎ll Clear 鈥� to sound so I could go and collect shrapnel from the bombs 鈥� this was a favourite pastime for many of the local boys.

When I got to the damage there was only a shell of a building left. The area was strewn with rubble and massive chunks of masonry but the thing I found weird was the great pipes from the beautiful organ scattered around the road and sticking up through the rubble. I went into Mowbray Park, which was opposite the Hall, and the famous Winter Gardens stood there with just a metal frame as every pane of glass had been blown out. The large pond was covered with a white film of dust and it looked as if snow had fallen. Saddest of all were the two beautiful swans that were lying dead.

That night the raid lasted over 6 hours, 13 people were killed and 130 injured

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