´óÏó´«Ã½

There were events I can recall happening during the 1939-45 War. I can remember the first time the sirens sounded declaring the outbreak of war, it was on a Sunday dinner time, and my mam had asked me to go a message to Meggie Rowe’s. I was crossing the street at the time when the sirens sounded, and on my return asking my mam what was wrong, she explained the reason for the siren, which over the next few years would be a regular sound. One day my pals and I were all playing around the steps to the ‘File Factory’ offices in Richmond Street, when all hell let loose, it was a daytime raid. The big anti-aircraft gun based in the L.N.E.R stables in Easington Street facing Richmond Street (the building is still there today) opened up firing at enemy aircraft that was dropping its bombs, one hit ‘Alibabas’ sauce factory, which was situated in the middle of Richmond Street. Just seconds before this Mr Day who lived in number six and his son Derek, who was one of my pals, came rushing out gathered us all together and ushered us through the passageway of his house to the air raid shelter. We only just made it into the passage when the bomb hit, all the back windows of the house were blown out while the front windows were left intact. Mr Day kept us all calm and had been our Guardian Angel. The Germans had a few attempts at our locality obviously trying for the ships in the river, Wearmouth Colliery and the railways, hitting the aforementioned sauce factory, the railway bridge over North Sheepfolds road and the colliery yard. They actually dropped a bomb in the pit pond that was home to lots of goldfish, but the bomb never exploded. The enemy also set fire with incendiaries to the Monkwearmouth Rail Goods Yard, but the worst raid was the Bromarsh Cinema on the end of the bridge, where a lot of lives were lost.

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