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In October 1939, I was an 11 year-old girl living in Earlsfield, South London. I had a 15 year old sister - Eileen - and my mother had given birth to a son in September of the same year. This part of South London was known as ‘Doodlebug Alley’ because the German planes came straight across the Channel over Croydon, Tooting, Earlsfield, Putney and Wandsworth, and into central London, and the docks area.
I was evacuated to Glastonbury, but was so unhappy that I was only there for a few weeks, and came back to London, where I spent the entire war.
I can’t remember when the bombing actually started; I think it was in 1940. Every night our family went to the air raid shelters, especially to one that belonged to the munitions factory, where both my father and sister worked. We took blankets, flasks and some sandwiches and baby food for my little brother. It certainly wasn’t an easy time for my mum and dad. We often had our windows blown out, so my dad made wooden shutters for some of the windows. After the bombers had been over, we used to collect shrapnel next morning.
One of the frightening things was the time when a bomb was dropped that had been set with a timer device, for it to go off later, so we had to get out of our house until it was dealt with. There were also incendiary bombs which set fire to buildings. After having spent many nights in air raid shelters, one Saturday, during the day, a Doodlebug came over and fell very close to our house — actually in the playground of my school - The Wandle School - killing one man. Luckily we were in the shelter, but the back of our house was very badly damaged, so we had to go and stay with my aunt, until the council found us some other accommodation. They put us in a big house, called a ‘Rest Centre’; luckily we only had to stay there for 6 months, until we were given something permanent.
One of the worst nights for bombing locally was when 3 cinemas and a dance hall were hit in Putney High St. The bombs fell at about 11p.m. when everyone was coming out, and an awful lot of people were killed.
I am now almost 77, and will never forget what we went through, and although they were terrible times, I’ll always remember the spirit and kindness that people displayed to one another. I have watched this weekend’s VE celebrations with mixed emotions, and find it hard to believe that 60+ years have passed since those times, as it is all still so vivid in my mind.

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