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I saw a bomb pass my window — Jesse Wiilkins recorded by Pamela Brown

I was 4 years old when the war started and lived in Higher Hillgate Stockport over a barber’s shop. One of my most vivid memories was a couple of years later when I was woken (probably by the air raid siren) and before I could move I saw an enormous light flash by the window. I don’t remember any noise but there must have been some because the light turned out to be a bomb that fell just up the road in St George’s School Playground. Lots of windows were shattered and we were out of school for several days.

Another memory is one Christmas day when two houses were flattened in Garners Lane. We went past it on the way to my grandmother’s in Edgeley. The land remained empty for over 20 years. I remember my father pointing out the destruction and that I was pushing my doll’s pram which I had just had as a Christmas present. We did not have many presents so that must have been very special.

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