大象传媒

As a child Ilived in Kingston-upon-Hull, East Yorkshire. Our house was in Haddon Street, Hawthorn Avenue, between Hessle Road and Anlaby Road and fairly close to the River Humber and the St Andrews fish docks.

I was born during November 1940 and towards the end of the war, aged about 4, I can remember air raid warnings when in the blackout we could see the beams of searchlights from some distance, through our bedroom windows.

A bomb had landed and exploded on houses further up Haddon Street and after the demolition workers had cleard the site it became, for us, a playground.

At the end of Haddon Street was Hawthorn Avenue,and the main railway line from Hull to Doncaster and Leeds crossed the road at the"Chalk Lane" level crossing near the road junction. On the other side of the crossing was Shiphams Brass Foundry. A bomb landed close to the railway line and the foundry but did not explode. I remember the street being evacuated whilst the unexploded bomb was dug out of its crater, after being made safe. It was then left dangling from a crane and the public were allowed to inspect it from quite close by. This would have been in early 1945.

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