大象传媒

Sid Nicholls was my my mothers younger brother. He married Fay before the war and they had two children. Lily and Sheila. They lived in a small terraced house in Abbey Wood with Fay's father who had served in the first war in the Royal Navy. Abbey Wood at that time was a quiet South East London suburb, bordering onto open marshland to the north and east. Further north, close to the river Thames was a part of the Royal Arsenal, mainly used as living accomodation for the Royal Arsenal police and security forces and their families.
On the link road from Abbey Wood railway station to the Police Quarters was a paint factory, British Domolac, manufacturing highly inflammable but specialised lacquered paint finishes for use on aircraft skin.
One evening in late April 1941 the air-raid sirens sounded and Sid, Fay and their children made their way into the Anderson shelter in the back garden. Their next door neighbours from No 49 came into the shelter too. Mr Herbert, Fay's father, had always been uneasy about the shelter and as usual decided to stay outside. First he ensured that all the family were safely in the shelter and then made sure the blackout curtain was in place before going to sit on the back step of the house and smoke his pipe.
Some of what happens next must be conjecture, since no-one has first hand knowledge of the actual sequence of events, however from contempory records it can be assumed that a flight of German bombers were targeting the Domolac that night.
A night attack, intense flack from the defence forces surrounding the Royal Arsenal. The night sky lit up with searchlights probing for the enemy, and sometimes finding the attackers; giving the Bofers gunners on their sites brighty lit targets to pound away at.
Perhaps the German crew were new, almost certainly they would have been young and scared near to death.
Whatever happened in the cockpit that night we shall never know for certain. However what we do know is that someone in one of the attackers aircraft released their bomb load well before the Domolac came into their sights.
The resulting explosion completly destroyed the little terrace of three houses. Mr Herbert was mortally wounded and subsequently died in hospital a few days later. Sid, Fay and their neighbours in the Anderson shelter were all killed instantly. And at this point a near miracle occured. Sid and Fay must have heard the bombs falling and covered the childrens small bodies with their own.
When the emergency services finally uncovered the ruins they found both Lily and Sheila still alive and relativily unharmed.
How do I know all this? Simple really, my mother adopted the orphans and they became sisters to my brother and myself. They have lived successful happy lives and became wives, mothers and now grandmothers.
One simple act of blind courage from Sid and Fay Nicholls who gave their lives in order that their children could have the opportunity to live and enjoy a full and happy life.
Thank you both.

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