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This story was submitted by Allen Buckroyd, who compiled ‘Great Baddow Oral History’, published in December 2003. The book contained this contribution from Eileen Hance and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the terms and conditions.

Eileen Hance — Bombs and Suet

I worked at Hoffman’s and Marconi’s during the war years. I lived close to Hoffman’s, so we were affected by the bombing. We lived opposite Archer’s suet factory in New Street, next to the Cathedral school.

We were bombed one night, when fire bombs (incendiaries) hit Archer’s. That went up in flames and the fire engines dealt with that. We had one in our bedroom that had come through the roof onto the bed. Unfortunately my mother’s family bible was destroyed. We ran upstairs and threw the burning mattress out through the window. We had just managed to put it out when the door was thrown open, firemen rushed in with a hose and they were covered in suet from the factory. The firemen did more damage than the fire. However, we lived to tell the tale.

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