大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People's War site by CSV Storygatherer Coralie on behalf of Peggy Simm. The story has been added to the site with her permission and Peggy fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

I lived in Newquay with my parents, elder brother and younger sister. In the early hours of one Saturday morning a German bomber dropped his bombs within 2 miles of our home. It was thought he was aiming for St Eval or St Mawgan aerodrome.

On that Saturday my father took up the floorboards in the hallway and started removing the earth, bucket by bucketful out through the kitchen. Our neighbour who was an airman from St Mawgan helped, on the condition that his young family could join us in the event of an air-raid.

The shelter was approximately 12 feet by 6 feet and 8 feet deep with steps leading down to it. All that soil was carried out through the kitchen. The shelter had benches, a primus stove and kettle etc., and an emergency exit under the sitting room window. It was never used but my brother did sleep down there one night.

My grand-parents lived in Bugle and we could see the fires of Plymouth from their garden, which was about 40 miles away.

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