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Note: This story has been entered by a volunteer on behalf of Delphine Higgs. The author has seen and agreed to the People's War House Rules.

Life in Bath was beautiful, I made new friends, explored the countryside around Englishcombe with Joan who lived a few doors away and I enjoyed Blackmore & Langdons Nurseries, especially the field of Delphiniums. However, my parents had invested in an Insurance Policy which had matured, in earlier months and this should have given them a boost but instead it had had to be spent on travelling and accommodation expenses to get away from the bombing. The funds were running out. Money became very short, Dad’s working day could not be lengthened as the train timetable dictated the time he must leave Bristol. Dad had been crippled in the first world war and the continuous journeys were becoming too much for him. The Bombing raids on Bristol had eased off and there was only one solution. We must return to The Dings.

It was nice to be back home in the old familiar streets but I missed everything about Bath, particularly the nice smelling fresh air. It was a pity my Bristol school, and school friends were now in Clevedon but no matter, I could walk to Temple Meads get the train to the Technical College, which was no distance from the railway station, and return to Bristol in the late afternoon.

For several weeks all went well, but soon my future was to be decided for me. Whilst we were in Bath, Dad had arranged for temporary repairs to be done to the house and shop to make it reasonably safe. We tried to get back to living a normal life — we slept in our beds. SIRENS! and that night we thought, “Oh God, here we go again”. We had a sleepless worrying night down in the cellar but Bristol was not the target. The target was BATH.

The following Monday morning I caught the 9am London train from Temple meads to school. Leaving the station I immediately saw that Pitman’s the Printers and my school next door in Manvers Street had been bombed. I was allowed into the lower hail where my belongings were kept in a locker but that area was such a smashed up shambles it was impossible to find anything. I went to the Church Hall where my Gym things were kept but no luck and no school staff about. I could see that it looked as if my school days were over. One last chance, perhaps someone was at the old school near “Fishy Evans” where we had typing lessons. Yes it was open and there was some activity. There was a notice on the gate, it read, “No Entry — Mortuary”.

What should I do now? Go back home? I already knew my Aunt, Uncle and baby cousin were alright but naturally very shaken. From Southdown they had seen the terrible sight of Bath burning as they had seen Bristol burning from Montpelier. I wanted to see if my school friend, Dorothy, had survived so I took a bus to Weston. The bus was diverted in many different directions because of unexploded bombs, but I eventually arrived. Her parents, Salvationists, made me very welcome and I heard their experiences but I knew that my happy days with my Bath friends at the Tech. were over. Returning to Bath Railway Station one of the unexploded bombs the bus had passed on our way out had exploded and there was a great hole in the road, so the bus had to make another detour.

That morning, Bath being unprepared for such an event, seemed to be taking very few safety precautions, quite different from Bristol as we had now become very organised. Near the bridge on the corner of Dorchester Street, men were digging out a bomb and I could see its tail and fins! Near Oldfield Park Station, from the train I could see all the graves in a cemetery cratered and shattered, I felt upset about it, but later my Dad pointed out that it was better to bomb the dead than the living.

There were many unexploded bombs in Bath that morning and later I heard that this was because Bath lay in a basin and caused the Bomb Aimers some difficulty. I suppose we were lucky to have returned to Bristol when we did but I only knew that it was going to mark a new era in my life and the end of a very happy one.

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