Brenda Ward recalls as schoolgirl in the 1940s seeing eight bombs fall onto Mill Road Bridge.  Her class was making its way to the School’s air raid shelters and reached them just as the bombs exploded.  The shelter dimly lit and smelling of earth is scary despite the teachers encouraging singing and other games.

At home in Sleaford Street the family shared with neighbours the cost of building an Anderson Shelter but the protection from a bombing that Brenda recall best is sheltering in a cupboard under the stairs.  She makes the value of even such meagre protection very clear as she recalls darker moments of war such as hearing the whistle of a bomb as it fell before killing two children she knew.