大象传媒

It was in the village of Stansfield on the evening of 29th November 1944. I, at the age of fifteen was, as a working lad, then able to join the 'working men's club', at the princely sum of half a crown per annum.

The club was held in the 'hut', a wooden building with a corrugated iron roof, and several small windows along each side. The hut was used for nearly all the village functions, whist drives, jumble sales, concerts and the working mans club on two nights each week, where darts, cards and billiards were played.

Living in Stansfield during the war meant we were surrounded by airfields; Stradishall, Chedburgh, Lavenham, were all in close proximity which also meant that we were liable to aircrafts crashing and being bombed by German aircraft. 6 bombs had already fallen in the village, two planes had crashed, a V.1. had come down two miles away in Poslingford, plus two air crashes in the same village, and a V.2. rocket had landed on the outskirts of Stansfield at Cordell Hall Farm, so we were all very used to loud bangs and flashes of light etc.

On this particular evening at the 'club' I was being taught to play billiards. There being no electricity in the village, a Tilley light hung over the billiard table suspended from a rafter above on a chain.

The windows were 'blacked out' with small wooden frames covered with black material, held in place with twist buttons, the same buttons used on cupboards to secure doors.

There were about eight of us present in the hall when about 8.30pm this almighty explosion occurred, resulting in some of the 'blackout' shutters falling from the windows. The whole place shook, 'semi-panic' resulted with every man diving for the comparative safety of the billiard table where we all huddled together underneath. Almost immediately however, someone shouted - 'LIGHTS' - meaning of course the shutters were down and the light from the 'Tilley' was shinig outside visible to enemy aircraft.

A young man called Bernie then crawled out and snatched the 'Tilley' lamp from its chain and brought it under the table, where upon he proceeded to try to blow out the lamp, in panic, I would guess?

Fortunately another man reached over and turned the valve, thereby putting out the light.

The explosion was a V.2 rocket which fell at Mrs Burton's farm just outside Stansfield, little damage was done and no one was injured.

This was something I shall never forget, a man in panic trying to blow out a 'Tilley' lantern.

A 'Tilley' Lantern was fuelled by paraffin oil which was pressurised by a pump which in turn fed a vapour to a silk mantle. It provided a very good 'white light'. Extinguishable by turning a smnall valve.

Sid Knott

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