Daughters WW2 History Project

[willybite]

I’m not old enough to remember the war but my grandmother was a child living in Barnsley during the war. She told me that she would watch the air raids on Sheffield from her bedroom window and to her it was like a firework display.

 

hello not much to say about the sheffield blitz as i was only two nearly three at the time i lived in the centre of sheffield at this time and i do remember the night, although there were shelters i remember being on my nans cellar steps with my mum ,nan ,aunt, and i still remember every time a bomb landed someone would say either that was close or that was a big one, there was a character who lived nearby called wheatley he was known as billy weeks it must have been the first bombing raid and my dad told this story many times after ,billy worked in a steelworks in town ,this night billy was seen going home in his stocking feet with his clogs tied around his neck, when my dad asked him why billy replied " i dont want them bxxxxxxs up theer ta eer mi darrn eer. when i started school in 1943 the one thing i remember too was the teacher showing the class round the shelters in the school yard, another thing was that in my nans cellar she had a few tinned food and when anybody asked her about them she always said for a special time there were only about a dozen tins. now my other nan lived on the manor, after the blitz i went to her for a while.my grandad built an anderson hut in his garden ,also all their panes in their windows had brown tape criss cross pattern to stop any glass shattering if there were a bomb blast nearby,

[andywragg]

My dad lived on the Manor in the War.

 

My grandfather was a tool maker - a skilled man needed for the war effort - he was sent to work at the English Electric works in Stafford staying in a hostel during the week. He was paid at midday on Saturday then cycled back to Sheffield to see his family, after Sunday lunch he'd cycle back to Stafford over the moors. He did this summer and winter and worked through one of the coldest winter's of the twentieth century in a factory that had had it's roof blown off by the Luthwaffe

 

They had a Andersen Shelter in the garden, when the blitz started they went down to the shelter but my aunt Hilda went back for something she had forgotten - then there was a tremendous explosion, they thought the house had been hit and Hilda had been killed. When they peered out a white streak shot across the garden - my grandma thought it was her daughters ghost. It was actually a huge parachute mine hitting one of the steel mills and what they had seen was Hilda rushing out of the house in her white nightdress. imagine how frightening that was for my father as a seven year old.

[nina999]

Many thanks for your stories so far,any more would be greatly appreciated.