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This story was submitted to the People's War site by Simon Harris and has been added to the website on behalf of Lilian Stevens with her permission and they fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

I had carried my 10 month old daughter, Tildie (Matilda), under my arm to Ashford town centre. I had just come out of a shop with a large bag of eggs under my other arm when the spotters warning sounded. I was more or less pushed into the town centre shelter.

When the raid was over I found that there were many wounded and dead people and flattened houses at Regents Place. East Street and West Street had also been heavily bombed. Just near these streets was Kipling Road where I lived. I found that the ceilings in my house had come down on both floors, the back door was in the front window, and the front door was upstairs by the bedroom window. Amazingly dinner was still ok as the meat I had left on the stove was boiling away! One German plane had been shot down nearby and the body of the pilot was found in the park. Unfortunately the local school children had already come through the park and seen the body before taking shelter in Marlow Road. That night Mr Wilkinson the ‘midnight milkman’ gave the usual third of a pint free to all the children who also received free ice cream from Mr Holdstock. The Salvation Army set up a soup kitchen so everyone was well fed.

It had been a traumatic day but afterwards it was business as usual. The eggs came through it all unbroken!

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