大象传媒

My mother, Eveline Mary Gregory, remembers the events of 1940 in Coventry. These are her words:

"I was lodging with my future sister-in-law over the border in Leicestershire but often stayed with my parents in Coventry. Commuting cost 1s 1d return so this was an economical option. We lived in Keresley, some way out of the city but with a fine view from our higher position. I worked at the BTH and recollect occasions when I stood with friends close to the roof of the building and watched German planes sweep in low to deliver their bombs.
In April 1940, we suffered one of the earlier raids by German aircraft. The All-Clear sounded and we emerged from the kitchen (part of this room ran beneath the stairs, one of the safest places in the house). Suddenly there were a series of explosions nearby. Our house suffered some blast damage but we did not know what had happened. We found out that Wallace Road had been hit by a stick of bombs jettisoned by a German plane after he had collided with a barrage balloon cable. We could hear people calling out for help.
Some time later we heard that the pilot had survived and had been taken to hospital, where he lay among some of the victims of his payload. There was more than a little illfeeling.
On the evening of 14th November 1940 we were preparing to sit down to dinner. I think this would have been some meagre meat and vegetables. Suddenly the sirens sounded. We left the house and took shelter in the brick building in the garden of the house next door. The family, close friends of ours, had left the city some time earlier. We sat and heard the bombs landing. It continued for a long time but sounded some way off.
We spent the night in the shelter.
The next morning we emerged and gazed over a Coventry that all seemed to be on fire. My father, who worked as a silk weaver in the city, walked down to see what had happened. He came back some time later in tears. Theyve burned it down, he wept. He told us of the devastation that he had found, and of people wandering about as if in a daze.
I remember Mr Lipton, the policeman, organising milk churns of water to be collected from near to us. The mains were broken in the city and they wanted whatever water they could get.
I found that the BTH had suffered little damage, with only the car park and a few windows damaged, so back to work!
At my parents house we cooked on the fire in the hearth for ages afterwards. There was no gas or electric.
My father worked at Oakey and Cox in Queen Street and they had a contract to supply silk ribbons for an Order of the Garter ceremony. The big worry that they had was that the looms and ribbon would be lost. They found the part finished ribbon still in place and so, finding a way through the devastation, they made sure that the ribbon was completed and delivered on time and as agreed."

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