大象传媒

I met my cousin Molly, straight out of school, and she she took me to the cinema. I was 14 at the time. The film was called " The Case of the Frightened Lady" at the Odeon. At about 6.30 an announcement had come on the cinema screen to tell the viewers that the siren had gone off. Viewers had the option to stay and finish the film!!. We decided to finish the film. However a little later, The cinema staff decided to evacuate us all before the film finished.

Molly and I tried to make our way home. However being that it was November 19th 1940, the streets were very dark at that time and it was very cold. On the way we were pulled into a shelter by an air raid warden. The shelter was at Greaves Needle factory, in Queen Street, Leicester. The Shelter was packed. We went down some steps, and it divided into two shelters. Each part held about 30 or 40 people either side. We sat near the entrance hoping to make a quick exit if there was a quiet time when the bombing finished. During this time we had nothing to eat or drink, as there were no provisions in the shelter. Anyway, we were too frightened to think about food.

People sat in forms in straight lines. We moved further into the shelter, because the EL Sand toilet had started to overflow and was very smelly. We still sat outside of the main group. About 12.30 the bomb fell, and landed at the entrance of the shelter.

There were five people killed, and we were buried up to our necks in bricks. The light in our part of the shelter stayed on. There was a lot of dust. We had no sensation of the bomb falling, we didn't hear it coming. It kind of felt like I had dived into a pool, and the water had hit my ear with a bang. There was a little lad that kept shouting "get these bricks off me". We couldn't undo the emergency opening, because we couldn't move. I remember smelling and feeling petrol spilling from a nearby lorry. We could see flames filtering through the shelter and bricks, I think this came from the lit petrol from the lorry. I think that the Air wardens dug us out. I left my cousin there, beacuse I had no choice as the wardens moved us on. I did not want to leave her. I lost my brand new navy blue court shoes that my mother had purchased from the Norvic shop in Granby Street for 拢5.00; and also my glasses. I walked through the streets and followed the crowds. The wardens had found me a pair of men's shoes. They were black lace ups, and they were miles too big. When I got home, it was about 7am in the morning. All of my family was at home. My mother, Elizabeth Brown, my twin brother Colin, and my sister Gillian. My mother made me a cup of tea. My cousin had an injury, her head was spilt open and she had gone to hospital.

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