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While we were all sitting in the kitchen around the open fire, the air raid siren had sounded. Instead of going down to the Anderson shelter as we should have we stayed where we were by the fire.
Becoming far too blasé to the sirens because of the ever too increasing soundings and the fact they were not always genuine, we had decided to remain where it was warm and comfortable.
Mum was ironing, stood under the electric light which was glass globe shade type, suspended by three chains, When the bombs started falling and started going off around us. One of the blasts blew the glass out of the windows and the iron metal frames blown tight shut. Dad and Ted managed to force the frames open as the door had also been damaged during the first few blasts. This was when I was told to get up onto the window ledge and get down the shelter.

Where we lived on Tunnel Ave the rear of the house looked out towards the river Thames, thou you could not see the river itself you could see the larger ships and at the back you could also see the larger factories on the docks such as “ Tate And Lyle” sugar refineries.
During the process of getting out of the window I looked across towards Silvertown and it was ablaze as far as the eye could see.

The German bomber planes were obviously trying to hit the gas works that were situated at the end of our rd, and also Blackwall Tunnel itself thou they never managed to hit either to the best of my knowledge throughout the war.

I eventually got down to the shelter, meanwhile dad had shovelled up all the hot embers from the fire and thrown them into the sink and doused them in water.
Mother was still standing under the main light which by now was dangling on one chain, so she was quickly moved from under that and down to the shelter along with the rest of the family.

Before the men got out of the house two either ARP’s or firewatchers had somehow gotten into the house to alert our family that there were two unexploded bombs that had fallen into the soft earth in our front garden. They then packed the gas meter with clay to protect it from any leakage it may have sustained.

My two sisters Flo and Doll had gone to the Granada cinema which was at the top of Blackwall Lane and watching a film that was stopped part way through (which was commonplace to do so in the event of an air raid). Everyone that was in the cinema then wanted to leave but the owners of the cinema would not let anyone leave until the “all clear” had been sounded.
When the all clear siren had sounded and they were allowed to leave they made their way home only to discover that the front porch had been demolished in one of the blasts, and they couldn’t get in.
The next door neighbour heard them shouting and trying to be heard but as we were all down the shelter by this point we were unable to hear them, and they let them into their house and to climb over the fence.

Mum then realised that she had left her false teeth in a cup on the draining board on the sink and when upon returning to the house her teeth never were found.

Two days later or so our house was condemned by local war damage people, not because of two bombs in the front but because of the damage that had been done by other bombs.

Mum and dad met with the local war housing officer who advised them that it was safer if they were to move to a house in the back streets somewhere near St. Josephs church, but mum said she wasn’t going to move there as it was too close to the power station and far too dangerous, so we moved to 292 tunnel Ave which was within spitting distance of the gas works.

A few days later two men from the bomb disposal team came out to make safe the two bombs in the front garden, but when they looked for them they couldn’t find them.
They could only assume that they had gone under the house, so dad asked them if they wanted to go down into the cellar. They declined this offer so dad went and looked for them himself but was unable to find anything down there and no cracks in the cellar wall.

A few days after this we had moved all the mattresses downstairs prior to us moving out and put them in the front room. During the night the only people awake were dad and doll, when one of the bombs went off under the house blowing dad and doll across the room while the rest of us slept through it.

Within two weeks we had managed to have two lucky escapes.

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