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This story was submitted by Maureen Tomison and has been added to the website on behalf of Marise Relf with her permission. She fully understands the site and the site’s terms and conditions

Hellfire Avenue

Marise Relf had been evacuated with her school to a small village at the beginning of the war but when her parents came to visit her in 1940 they couldn’t bear to leave her and so took her back to their new home in Bearsted in Kent. “In fact Bearsted was not a very good choice for a home during the war as most of the German planes, doodlebugs and V2s arrived in London by travelling through Kent past Bearsted along what became known as Hellfire Avenue” Marise said. “We had a wonderful view from our house over the hop fields but when the Battle of Britain started we also saw the planes coming in very low past the hop-pickers’ houses. The hop-pickers came from London and lived in the village while they were taking in the harvest. Many of the hop- pickers said they had seen more planes in Bearsted than in London. In fact very few planes or bombs luckily landed near us as they were targeting London. My most vivid memory came from watching a plane and noticing its roundels and swastikas spiralling out of control and the pilot bailing out. Sadly he left it too late when he was too near the ground and was killed.
“Our ceilings collapsed when a landmine fell on nearby Detling. As usual we had been watching out of the window. There was a terrific crump which shook the house and the ceiling fell in. We were very lucky it didn’t fall in on top of us.”

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