大象传媒

(This story has been submitted to the People's War website by a volunteer from Radio Northampton and has been added to the site with Eric Fowell's permission through the Rushden Historial Society. Mr Fowell understands the sites terms and conditions).

Alfred Street Junior School Rushden.

On what started as a quiet day by mid-morning had become the most tragic day the town had ever experienced.

October 3rd, 1940 was a normal school day. I had walked to school with my pals Edgar Arnold, John Hyde and David Harlow. We had no doubt realised the girls who attended the Intermediate School the uniform of which included the notorious red beret hat. We had a chant: 鈥淩ed hat, no -----.鈥� We would often be overtaken by school P.E. master Mr Jarvis, who lodged in the Hayway. He was a bit of a lad with a certain infant鈥檚 schoolteacher 鈥� still that鈥檚 another story!

On approaching the school in Alfred Street by the 鈥渏etty鈥� entrance we had to be very careful not to upset a lady, Mrs Alice Clayton, who would stand outside her house armed with a sweeping brush. She hated us school children. Some 鈥淎lfo鈥� boys and girls had conflicts with her. She must have been a nightmare for our headmaster.

There were two playground yards, one for boys and a combined one for girls and infants. At five minutes to nine the sharp whistle sounded and we all had to stand still then on the second blow move into our class room lines. The school day had started. The register was duly called and marked before going to school assembly in the hall. We often went to the music played by Mr Morris who played the violin and Nellie Groom on the piano. One tune I remember was 鈥淢en of Harlech鈥�. I remember it well because I had violin lessons from Mr Morris (nicknames 鈥淢ickey鈥�). Assembly took the usual form of a hymn, a prayer and announcements. The first lesson of the day was arithmetic and my 30 classmates and I were soon working on problems and sums. Our master for the lesson was Mr Hales (known as 鈥淏uggy鈥�). If you went out of line or misbehaved he would pull you out of your desk by the ear. I am sure two boys come to mind, Jimmy and Charlie who had stand-up battles with Buggy.

At 10.16 am on this morning there was a drone of an aeroplane followed by the loudest bang and crack as the roof slates and building shuddered. Dust and flakes of ceiling paint filled the room. Buggy shouted, 鈥淕et under your desks鈥� and he told us to sing. This must have relieved the tension. The next thing I remember was headmaster 鈥淧op鈥� Lawrence coming to the classroom door telling us to go to the shelters. We walked sharply and orderly across the main hall to the air-raid shelters situated in the school years. In spite of the serious, frightening situation we were in I saw only one person crying. After some time in the shelters we were told to go home. As I made my way along Alfred Street my father came along with his bike. He said not to look down College Street. He was convinced in his mind the my sister Jean was under the rubble but before we had turned into the High Street by the Old Post Office, Jean came along to catch us up, much to the relief of both of us. We were glad to be pushed on the bike through debris of glass and rubble strewn everywhere. Our Mum made us a drink and a wash soon relaxed us.

Later that day my teacher, Constance Bennitt, visited us to check how we had come through the day. Another visitor was Charlie Robinson, the newsagent, telling me to take one or two days off from my paper-round. Sadly, news came that 7 children had died in the Alfred Street attack as well as 4 men at John Cave鈥檚 factory. On reflection, if the classroom windows had not been covered with protective linen there would undoubtedly have been many more injuries.

In later years I was shown a report from the Fire Brigade office that the lone Dornier bomber had dropped 18 incendiaries and bombs across the town. The German plane was shot down by our RAF fighters. The pilot survived for a time but later died in hospital.

One boy, Brian Pratt, who was in the outside toilet when the attack took place, caught the blast in his face and experience seeing a wall just spin round. Fortunately the wall stayed upright. Brain had to wear special glasses for many years. In later years he became my brother-in-law.

Constance Covell, nee Bennitt passed away on April 8th 1999 aged 96.

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