大象传媒

We arrived at Algate Station after work and were not allowed out of the station due to an air raid. My family felt at home in the Anderson shelter; we therefore slept at the station all night along with several other people. Early next morning we had to walk home after the all-clear. We arrived back to find that the house had been bombed and was gutted, but all the family were safe. This was in September 1940. As soon as possible, we moved to Middlesex, hoping for a quieter life. Blanche Merralls was then old enough to start work in an ordnance factory, parcelling military uniforms using a large press. The shelter was a fair way away, and Blanche thought that having so many uniforms around constituted a good blast wall.
The ARP warden was on duty on the roof adjacent to us. The siren sounded, he heard a doodlebug, and he realised it was heading for the factory. He ran down the stairs and told the staff to get themselves out of there and into the shelter, pronto. They managed to get safely into the shelter before the bomb arrived and scored a direct hit. Unbeknown to her at the time, her husband-to-be actually saw the doodlebug on its way and realised that it was going to land on the factory. Many military personnel who were on duty at the factory were killed.

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