大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the people's war website by St. Barnabas Library staff on behalf of Mr. Keith Reynolds. It has been added to the site with his permission and the author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

Keith learnt only last week that they were not evacuated in the first wave of evacuees was not solely down to their living too far out of London. His mother did not want him and his siblings to be sent away, but for the afmily to stay together.
The family lived in Hook, Surrey not far from the Kingston-by-Pass. The German bombers taregeted the Hawker Factory which built the Hawker Hurricanes and C.B. Gormans's which manufactured diving equipment. His father decided it was no longer sfe for the family and they moved to Plimpton just outside Plymouth. One day when they were in Plymouth the sirens went and they went into Woolworth's to use their shelters. Buildings which had public shelters would display large notices with an S on them, Woolworth's in Plymouth had one of these notices. When they acme out two days later, Plymouth high street had disappeared.
The family returned to Hook before moving to Bristol. They returned to Hook when the docks at Bristol were bombed.
His father George Reynolds was transferred from the Balloon Barrage unit to Bomber Command. He was sent to Yatton near Weston-Super-Mare for his training and was joined there by his family until the training was completed. When he passed he was transferred to RAF North Luffenham in Rutland and the family returned To Hook.
During the period the doodle-bugs started to appear. early one morning the lamp post at the end of cul-de-sac was hit by a doodle bug and destroyed the row of houses where the family lived. The family managed to get a message to their father about what had happened through the local RAF training station in Hook. George Reynolds learnt of the loss of the family home through his sergeant.
When the sergeant learnt that the family had no where to go, he offered them the use of his home in Leicester. The family made the journey to Leicester on the railway, and arrived late one sunday evening. They caught the tram to the address in Saltersford Road, but due to unforseen circumstances could only stay there overnight.They were then relocated to Coleman Road, Leicester where they stayed until the end of the war.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.