大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Chris Comer of Stockport Libraries on behalf of Gordon Graham and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I lived in a big house on Ordsall Lane, Salford during World War Two only 1.5 miles from the docks. I was only six years old when war broke out but remained in the area for the duration of the war and have clear memories of the war and the Manchester blitz. The house we lived in was a sort of split level house with cellars at the front; a large middle cellar and a kitchen at the back.

Air raid shelters were built in the nearby croft which were used by people living in the neighbourhood. One night during the Manchester blitz my friend and his family were sheltering there when his sister and her friend went back to their house on Bigland Street to make a cup of tea. Unfortunately a land mine dropped just by their house totally demolishing the house and tragically killing the two girls as well. King George and Queen Elizabeth visited Salford after this blitz and came to see the crater that the landmine had created. I can remember King George giving a sweet to one of my friends.

Eventually the authorities converted part of our cellar and the celler of the house next door into air raid shelters, installing rolled steel to strengthen the ceiling. Our air raid shelter was used by twenty or more friends and neighbours every night when the sirens went off at 7pm.

The local cotton mills were also a target. One night an incendiary bomb dropped on Howarth's Mill. It went up like a torch and all the people in the surrounding houses, including my family, were evacuated to shelter in the cellars of J and JM Worrall's - a textile mill where my dad was a manager. The remains of Howarth's Mill collapsed into our back garden obliterating the lawn and the little putting green that we used to play on. Our back garden remained in this condition for many years to come.

I really missed that patch of lawn. I used to set up that gramophone player on the lawn and play records on it. The girls who worked in Howarth's Mill used to hang out of the windows to shout their favourite music to me which I would play in return for the sweets that they threw to me.

Ordsall Cinema was also bombed one night but was fortunately empty at the time and Mr Carter's Toffee shop was also bombed. One night the Pawn Shop down the road was bombed and early the next morning people crept in and reclaimed their belongings!

Two of my friends sadly lost their parents in another raid.

One day my father had taken me shopping to Salford to buy some lead soldiers when we got caught in an air raid. We didn't have time to get to a shelter and as red hot shrapnel started to rain down around us my father threw himself on top of me to protect me. One large piece of shrapnel hit a nearby lamp post and the dent remained in the lamp post for several years to come - a constant reminder of the Manchester blitz.

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