大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by (Helen Smith) on behalf of (Dennis) and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I went into the Anderson Shelter earlier on. My sister worked at S&J Watts as a secretary. The following day she left early for work. At Picadilly, all was ablaze and she couldn't get across. S&J watts' building survived, however the other side of Picadilly was gone. It was a smoky ruin.

At 9.00 my mother and I started into town through Rochdale then Blackley. We got to Morton Lane, which had suffered from incendiary bombs. We did not notice any damage from explosions but on Church St (just past Morton Lane) all was ablaze. the victory cinema in Chamber Street was destroyed. The streets were littered with shrapnell, bricks, glass and incendiary devices.

We went to see my Grandmother who lived nearby. She had sheltered under the stairs and was alright. We carried on to the bottom of Rochdale Road. There were goods yards and gas works, which had been damaged by fires and bombing. We went to smithfields Market to Richardsons Dining Rooms, the ARD had made it their HQ. Two of my aunts had slept there as it opened at 5am each day. The market was full of smoke. Everywhere were hosepiper, broken glass and incediary bombs. They had come through the roof into the market, but Richardsons was not damaged. My aunts were safe. We could not get past Picadilly, so we checked on relatives in Red Bank who were also safe.

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