- Contributed byÌý
- csvdevon
- People in story:Ìý
- Miss May Clapp, Rev and Mrs H R Cooke, Mr and Mrs W C Walton, Mr and Mrs Pike, Ben Turner, Ron Anning, Andy Bartlett, Bill Smith, Ted Gosling, John and Mary Eeles, June and Stella Moore and Mrs Elizabeth Woolacott
- Location of story:Ìý
- Seaton, Devon
- Background to story:Ìý
- Civilian
- Article ID:Ìý
- A4462698
- Contributed on:Ìý
- 15 July 2005
This story has been written onto the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War site by CSV Storygatherer Oliver on behalf of Miss Mary Clapp. The story has been added to the site with their permission and Miss Clapp fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.
Seaton Vicarage, now flats in Case Gardens, was a Red Cross Post manned by Devon Red Cross Unit 110, with Mrs Cooke, a VAD, and Rev H R Cooke - the Chief Air Raid Warden. The down stairs room on the North side was equipped as a two bedded hospital ward. When the bomb fell on Townsend Road on August 12th 1942, Mrs Walton, wife of William Walton who was St Gregory’s Parish Church organist, was walking down the road where they lived in Kew Cottage. She was machine gunned and hit by a tracer bullet down her spine. She was taken to the Vicarage First Aid Post, which must have been a great shock to the vicar and his wife. Sadly she died the next day. Mr and Mrs Pike, who lived nearby in Harepath Road, were injured. Ron Anning, who was walking home from Ben Turner’s building yard, just opposite Seaton Vicarage for his lunch break had to report to the Vicarage for his Scout Messenger duties. Many houses were badly damaged, including Manor Cottages and Andy Bartlett’s Nursery Garden at the bottom of Townsend Road.
The blast blew all the glass out of the greenhouses, which were full of ripening tomatoes. Strangely, some of the glass was blown skywards and the plants were left standing with fruit undamaged! Most glass, however, blew inwards and pounds of tomatoes were covered in splintered glass — a real loss in time of rationing. The greenhouses were repaired by Andy Bartlett, Ted Gosling and Bill Smith while Ben Turner and his employees, including Ron Anning, were kept busy with surrounding properties. In the same raid, another bomb was dropped on Highwell Road, killing the occupants John and Mary Eeles, their two London evacuees — Stella and June Moore aged eleven and six respectively — and visiting friend Mrs Elizabeth Woolacott.
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