大象传媒

After the very heavy air-raid of the 7th April 1941, Father decided that the air-raid shelter at 64 English Street was too vulnerable and that we should try putting our safety in the care of the Lord. The nights of the 8th and 9th of April therefore were spent in the crypt of Holy Trinity Church. I am not sure which scared me the most, the fear of the bombing, or the thought of sleeping in a grave. From what I remember, we entered the church by an entrance on the south side, steps carried on down to a narrow passageway into the crypt, which branched off on each side into small vaults. Each vault had stone slabs at each side which had carried the coffins of the interred bodies, (the coffins had been removed previously, in anticipation of the crypt being used as an air raid shelter). To make sure that a family could all be together in one vault, it was important not to leave it too late before taking up residence. Otherwise one could have found oneself sharing a vault with someone who had found enough alcohol to anaesthetize themselves for the night. The 8th of April proved equally as fearsome as the 7th had been but I am not sure how much safer we were in the crypt than being in our own shelter.

Other memories include.

One sunny summer evening at approximately 6pm my friends and I heard the sound of a German bomber, (the twin-engined German aircraft had a very distinctive throbbing note) we immediately dashed to our vantage point which gave a view of the River Humber in both directions. From what I remember there was no air-raid siren or indeed any anti-aircraft fire. The aircraft flew down the river towards Goole, turned around and passed our vantage point, and then as it passed over the refinery at Saltend it dropped a stick of bombs which set fire to the oil storage tanks. I have since seen a report on this single bomber raid which said that the bomber was shot down in the North Sea on its way home.

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