Topic
Topic ID 7296
27/07/2013 by ray in oz
2nd world war
hallo all, my first post, I was born 1939 in a flat above a grocers shop at 15 Bull Plain my parents Lily & Arthur Lawrence, my father was manager of Clement Clarks Opticians & also the same company in St Albans my father joined the local home guard, mother was in the fire wardens. Hallo all, my first post, I was born 1939 in a flat above a grocers shop at 15 Bull Plain my parents Lily & Arthur Lawrence, my father was manager of Clement Clarks Opticians & also the same company in St Albans my father joined the local home guard, mother was in the fire wardens. Because there was no one to look after me I was put into nursery school apparently 3 or 4 different ones in turn because over a period of time I was banned from all of them because of bad behaviour [refusing to eat the meals in some cases throwing it on the floor & in some cases walking out & going home. So then I was looked after for the day by an elderly lady who lived next door on her own at no 17 bull plain so I must have been quite happy there. A bit later on into the war I was able to stay with my father for the day in in his shop at Hertford or St Albans. Also during this time I had a number of friends I can only remember the names of 2 of them John & Terry whose father had a green grocers shop which was good we sometimes got an apple or pear. One night there was a huge explosion, I could see from my bedroom window {which was covered in white sticky tape] that the buildings across the street were on fire, incendiary bombs I believe. The fire wardens [including my mother] dozens of them with buckets of water & stirrup pumps and garden hoses trying to contain the fire which was at least 5 floors up. Soon a couple of fire trucks rolled up. Another very frightening thing happened about 9.30 Sunday morning the 2nd July 1944 when a V2 rocket [doodlebug] dropped onto the Mill Bridge, bounced into the river Lea & exploded. My bedroom windows exploded onto my bed I dived off the bed rolled under it and laid there, my parents were out all night doing their duty but my grandmother was staying the weekend came rushing in calling my name I think she nearly fainted when I rolled out from under the bed. What a mess everywhere, downstairs all the windows on the shop & inside were wrecked and we had to stay outside until the afternoon before we were allowed inside to make sure everything was safe before the clean-up started. The next day I had to go down to Bournemouth with my grandmother to stay at her guest house for 2 weeks while the clean-up was going on. When I got back Mill Bridge was being repaired & still closed, I saw my 2 friends who had been worried till they asked my mother . Everything carried on as normal until VE day when Bull Plain went wild with a big party that went on until the early hours of the next morning. Us kids had been asking the American soldiers & airmen “got any gum chum” & bars of chocolate of which they seemed to have plenty. That’s all for now hope it wasn’t to boring. Ray in Sth aust.
Edited by Admin to remove multiple pastes.
Replies
Reply ID 94805
27/07/2013 by Marilyn
You might want to edit that a bit I think you have copy and pasted a few times?
My family were in Greengrocery so going to ask Dad if he remembers who John and Terry might have been.
Reply ID 94808
27/07/2013 by sloopjohnb
Hi Ray
Agree with Marilyn about the copy/paste but a wealth of information here. Someone was actually asking me about the V2 a few weeks back because he thought the bomb had dropped on Folly Island as he recalls bits of furniture floating down the Lea. If you have no objection I'll pass this on a mate who was originally asked the question and then asked me.
A lot of people don't know this. When City Water moved into the Seed Warehouse one of the directors located a black and white photo of the damage done to Mill Bridge and surrounding area and had it enlarged and placed on board. It was then mounted above the front door. We also found an air raid siren and a bomb. I assume the bomb was defused because it never went off. It made a wonderful display as you entered the Seed Warehouse and climbed the first flight of stairs. City Water have now moved out (as have I ) so I don't know if that display is still there. I would suspect it is.
The Seed Warehouse is owned by the Town Council and office space rented out as well as the ground floor which houses much of the Museum artefacts. So it is not quite a public place. The Museum host occasional open days where you can see much more of Hertford's history than is able to be displayed in the Bull Plain premises. I often lost myself wandering around the ground floor when the curator or assistant was cataloguing stuff.
Can't give anyone a definite guide as to how you might see all this but an enquiry at the Museum or a polite request of one of the tenants might yield a positive route.
City Water wanted to display more stuff as you wandered around the building but it was one project that didn't quite get off the ground. I believe that an antique photographic enlarging machine (or that's what we think it is)used to rest on the shelf alongside the stair well. It's a few years since I left my office here so please don't quote me. Time moves on.
Reply ID 94812
27/07/2013 by Marilyn
There is a poem about the bomb dropping written by Percy Ilott, it is in his book. It is really great , written as it it were the mill talking and not getting an answer from his fried next door..................
When I get chance I will type it up and post it !
There are various photos of the damage in the museum and some of the books on Hertford
Been trying to get my fathers brain working, could the greengrocer have been Mr Jubb on Old Cross??..........the others he doesn't think had sons of those names, Mrs Cook The Arcade or Mr Cook St Andrew Street, Bernard Nicholls who was bombed out from The Wash and moved to "Roses corner" of Bull Plain and Railway Street, Len Webb Railway Street, United Fruiterers (Thomas Edwin Chaplin) Ware Road, Thomas Lawrence St Andrew Street, George Copping Market Place and Railway Street, Dick Ketteridge Parliament Square..................those were the days of independent shops!
Reply ID 94821
28/07/2013 by ray in oz
Thanks everyone for replying, after nearly 50 years the brain gets a bit rusty, I know Terry is right his older brother might have been Allan. Thanks again Ray in Oz.
4 replies