大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War web site by Karen Elmes at the Building Exploratory on behalf of Elsie Bevis and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

At the outbreak of the war Elsie lived with her family in Pownall Road in Hackney. Although her family had an Anderson shelter in the garden they did not use it during the air raids. This was because Elsie鈥檚 grandmother had a false leg and found it too difficult to get into the shelter. As they would not leave her on her own the whole family stayed in the house and hid in the basement whenever there was a bombing raid.

Elsie got married during the war and left home to live with her husband in Rowgate Road, Clapton. However whilst they were there their home was badly damaged by a bomb, all the ceilings came down and all their wedding presents were destroyed. Elsie preferred to live with friends for a while and then go back to her family home in Pownall Road rather than stay in a temporary shelter for people who were bombed out of their homes.

Elsie remembers how Queensbridge Road the area around her family鈥檚 home was very badly bombed as the bombers were trying to hit the factories and the barges along the Regent鈥檚 Canal. There were large underground bomb shelters on Hackney Downs, but Elsie hated them because they gave her the feeling of being shut in.

In spite of feeling frightened during the bombing raids, Elsie remembers how she, her family and friends tried to keep their spirits up by talking and having a sing-song.

This story was recorded by the Building Exploratory as part of a World War Two reminiscence project called Memory Blitz. To find out more please go to ^{About links}

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