大象传媒

My father spent most of the war on active service my mother was on her own as were other mothers.
We lived at Mangravet Avenue Maidstone it was situated near to the Kent police headquaters and from the air it was considered to look like Maidstone barracks.
My perents home town was Tonbridge so my mother would travel on some week- ends to see my grand
perents.
Her freinds at Maidstone use to say she was mad to risk such a dangerous journey,but she worried about her perents as her three brothers were away from home in the navy,but the truth was that nowere was safe in Kent in those days.
This week-end my mother caught the number seven bus from Maidstone to Tonbridge,it made its way out of the town stopping on on its way through Barming and Teaston to pick up passengers.
The bus was just outside of Merryworth when the driver stopped the bus and walked back to see the conductor.
There was a lot of aerial activity that day and the driver had seen low flying aircraft further up the road and he wanted to evacuate the bus untill things were quite.
My mother with us and the other passegers were helped off the bus and taken down a embankment at the bottom was a protected ditch covered by trees.
The driver then climbed back up got on the bus then drove it down the road.
Whilst he was doing this a german fighter swooped down firing at anything that moved my mother said she could hear the shell cases hitting the trees and clattering on the road.
This had been going on for several minutes when a little old lady sitting next to my mother said,"I hope that horrid man goes home soon as i am sitting on a ants nest".
Soon after that the sky was full of aircraft and as soon as it had started it had finished.
The conductor concerned about his driver scrambled back up the bank but the driver was already backing the bus back down the road to collect his passengers.
They arrived at Tonbridge half an hour late but safe thanks to the brave bus crew.

NEXT MANGRAVET ATTACK.

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