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Air Raid Warden in Kettering

I was an Air Raid Warden in Kettering, Northamptonshire at the beginning of
the war; I was 23. I signed up in 1938 when Chamberlain came back waving the piece of paper and declaring ‘Peace in Our Time…’ !

When war did start and the sirens sounded we had to go to our post, mine was in the front room of the leader of the wardens for our area. We would sit and wait to see if anyone needed help after a bomb dropped on the houses nearby. The training took place in the local police station; we were trained to look after people who had been injured by bombs falling, we also had to know how to direct traffic in and around damaged roads or piles of rubble. However no bombs fell whilst I was on duty — but we were always ready just in case.

I lived with my parents on Rockingham Road in Kettering and one day a bomb
dropped on a nearby bungalow and destroyed it, miraculously the couple living there survived, they were extremely lucky. Another time a
German bomber dropped 4 bombs not far from my home, they jettisoned the bombs so that the planes were lighter and could get home quickly, I remember going to look at the huge crater I can still see it in my mind’s eye now!

This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Diana Wilkinson of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester and has been added to the site with Mrs Hakewill’s permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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