大象传媒

In Autumn 1944 when I was seven, I was returning from shopping in Mitcham with my mother and grandmother. Having got off the 118 bus at the "Horse & Groom" in Manor Road we proceeded to walk up Sherwood Park Road to Elm Gardens where we lived,a distance of around half a mile.

An air raid warning started as we got off the bus and some people hurried into a couple of brick and concrete shelters which were built in the road. My grandmother suggested we join them as we knew the Peek family who lived in the road, and used the shelter we were just passing. My mother said no as she wanted to get home to her own shelter, an Anderson shelter in the garden.

As we proceeded further up the road we could hear the V1 coming along behind us.We got to the bottom of Elm Gardens where there was a church. An air raid warden saw us, used a few choice words, and pulled us into the crypt where some other people were sheltering.

There was an almighty explosion and the V1 hit the very shelter we would have used, killing two people and badly injuring Mrs. Peek and her son.

Another time we were in our shelter in the garden, We could hear a V1 but suddenly the noise stopped. My father opened the small shelter door and looked up. The V1 was dead above us. He closed the door tight and we all crouched down. Fortunately it glided away and landed four streets away, demolishing three houses.

On VE Day we had a big bonfire with Hitler as a guy at the end of the road. My father had some fireworks from the Home Guard but they didn't go off so he threw them on the fire. I wondered what peace was going to be like, what on earth did it mean, were we going to have chocolates and toys like I'd been told about "before the war"? For years afterwards there was a big ring in the tarmac at the end of our road.

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