大象传媒

Just a short stroll down Newbridge Road is all that is needed to bring back memories to me of over 60 years ago and a night of real terror.
At that time I was living in Estcourt Street with my parents and twin brother Gordon, my sister's Amy and Winefred and her 2 children.
When the sirens blew the family always sought safety in the brick shelter at the back of our house. Gordon and I preferred to stay in the passage between the house next door.
On the night of 18th July 1941 East Hull was heavily attacked by German bombers. A lot of incendary bombs were dropped on our street followed by a huge bomb which exploded less than 80 yards away from us.
Gordon and I suffered the indignity of being blown on our backs and covered in dust and rubble. The rest of the family were safe but shaken in the shelter.
Estcourt Street was in a terrible state. The school had been burnt to the ground along with the Cussons shop at the top and pile of rubble was all that remained of 2 terraces of houses. The main shoping area was in ruins and it was deprived of gas, water and electricity so we had to rely on mobile kitchens for food and drink.
People nowadays don't realise when they walk around the area the devastation and death here.
On Newbridge Road the area that has been landscaped marks the spot where 60 odd years ago the Sherburn cinema and the beer offlicence stood.
Shortly after that night I joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer serving on a Hull trawler minesweeping in the North Sea followed by Atlantic convoy duties.
But one of my strongest recollections still remains that night of terror on the 18th July 1941 when so much of our way of life disappeared for ever and ironically it had to be on my 18th birthday.

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