´óÏó´«Ã½

My early memories
I was born in February 1940 and my earliest memory is of being carried by mmy mum during an air raid and she was beating the neighbour Mrs Hemmings to get into the air raid shelter. Mrs Hemmings was rather highly strung and when the sirens went off she got panicky. Because my mum was the fastest she was given the responsibility of getting mrs Hemmings into the shelter.

Bomb hitting Fishponds
I remember during an air raid at night my mum got a table and put it under the stairs instead of using the shelter. We were all hiding under it when a bomb went off and hit the Fishponds Methodist church. Our whole house shook and the church was near destroyed — only the walls were left . The bomb hit 5 houses and flattened them by Fishponds Coal wharf. I was told it was a 2000 lb bomb.

Dads work
My dad worked in several places at once — he was an engineer. He worked in what is now Blackbury Hill Hospital at the same time as working in Webers Chocolate factory which had been converted to make ammunitions.
One day a german aircraft landed in the grounds of the hospital. By the next morning all that was left of the aircraft was a frame and engine. All other panels and parts had been taken by hospital staff. My Dad took the propeller. The machine guns were taken to Fishponds Police Station and kept behind the Sergeants desk. The body of the pilot was stripped and put into an ash bin. The ash man wouldn’t take it away.

Food parcels from america
At the time of the war many things were in short supply. I had an auntie jean who lived in USA. She sent food parcels about 3 feet square and one of these was full of sweets so mum took these sweets still in the box into the street and I remember seeing all the women and children pulling all the sweets out and sharing them with other children.

I also remember packets of elephant tea and coffee coming in these boxes.

Fight at All Saints Church

I lived opposite All Saints Church and one night at the end of the war, I was in bed at the back of the house when I heard a noise from the front of the house.
I went into the front bedroom and saw a huge fight in the church grounds.
I later learned our troops had returned home and turned up still in uniform. The wives and girlfriends were at a dance with American troops, hence the fight

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.