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This story was submitted to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War site by Wymondham Learning Centre on behalf of the author who fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

In the Second World War, I lived with my parents in southeast London. Our home was the Stationmaster’s House at Sydenham Station on the main London to Brighton line.

One Sunday morning I had been Server at the 8 a.m. Communion Service at St Bartholomew’s Parish Church just a few hundred yards from where we lived. On returning home for breakfast, the air raid siren sounded yet again and we took cover in our specially strengthened cellar. We had an Anderson shelter in the garden but the cellar was much drier and warmer — and, I believe, much safer.

After a short while, there was a terrific explosion and we knew that this had been close by. Many of our windows were blown out and all the ceilings were cracked. One heavy piece of plaster came down smashing to pieces a prize-winning octagonal coffee table I made in my last year at school.

On coming out into the road to see what had happened, I saw a huge cloud of dust surrounding the vicarage near the church. A beautiful traditional redbrick building, it had sustained a direct hit by a doodlebug flying bomb. As I went up to it, the ARP and Rescue Services were arriving and I told them I was pretty certain that the vicar and his family were in there. They started digging.

I went up to the church, separated from the vicarage by two three-storied houses, which had taken much of the blast, and were badly damaged. The church had suffered damage to the east end, nearest the vicarage, and the stained glass windows had been blown in, covering the altar and the chancel with broken glass and debris. I had the keys with me and salvaged the chalice and other silver from the wreckage and locked it in the vestry safe being aware that some looting had taken place from bombed properties.

There is a happy ending to the story for Rev’d Hunter and his family were extricated from the strengthened basement of their home after 6 hours of digging — uninjured but very badly shaken by their ordeal.

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