The First Air raid siren sounded at
11.15am 3rd September 1939. Danetree Road school was shut whilst air raid
shelters were erected. The worst time for bombings was between
August and December 1940. 28th September of that year is recorded as being
a very heavy raid with bombs landing locally. During daytime raids, when
the school children were in the shelters they were given bits of cloth to
fray, possibly as a therapeutic measure. Window were covered with a
criss-cross of sticky paper to prevent flying glass.
It is widely reported locally that the first Doodle bug of the war fell on
West Ewell around 11pm on Thursday 15th June and hit Riverholme Drive. As
many as half the houses were destroyed. One report came back that the road
was full of lavatory pans. In houses in Belfield ceilings came down and
windows were blown out. In Station Avenue, doors were blown open, and
there was damage as far away as Cherry Way. On that night the air raid
sirens kept sounding all night and throughout the next day. In fact
Germany launched its new weapon from Pas-de-Calais on the northern coast
of France, on 12th June, 1944. The first ten failed to reach the country
but on the following day one landed in Essex; so we can assume that the
news of the bomb did not reach West Ewell so residents had
no prior knowledge of the new terror.
(extra info from
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWv1.htm)
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The flying bombs came over all day from the south east, perhaps 3 or four
at a time, many landed in Ruxley lane. Ruxley lane got hit by a lot of
flying bombs and a Warwick twin engined bomber crashed at the top of the
road just after the war around 1945/6. It came from the east clipped the
top of the garage, took out a lamp post and hit the house opposite. (Tragedy.html)
One November a bomb destroyed a row of 8 houses in Station Avenue yet the
windows in the maisonette's opposite were not damaged. This bomb may have
been one of a string that landed in Northcroft Road allotments, another
landed on the road near the maisonettes, damaging all the services so they
had no water or gas or electricity. They were rebuilt 18 months after the
end of the war. Some residents of the maisonettes used the outside
cupboard under the stairs as a shelter using sandbags for protection.
There was only one injury, an old man had a bumped head from a collapsing
ceiling. Four of the houses (2 blocks) were flattened, the other two had
to be pulled down. The same night a bomb landed in Gibraltar Recreation
ground. During air raids the trains slowed down in case the track was
damaged.
Another stick fell in the allotments behind Northcroft narrowly missing
the houses (either September or December. An incendiary burnt down the
cottage at the end of Plough Rd by the Park in 1940.
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A
mine landed in Lansdowne Road and blew no 47 down. A low flying lone
bomber that had been shot up dropped a bomb on Salesians playing fields
before crashing somewhere in Worcester park direction. The railway bridge
provided an ideal viewpoint for everyone to inspect the crater.
(audio file of this
story)
School closed for months because of the buzz bombs which gave children
ample time to make use of the playthings that the war provided. King
George Rec. was bombed many times and had many bomb craters also many
incendiaries fell there. Dantree School had one in the roof and they also
fell in Hook arena. Boys would play in the bomb craters and collect
shrapnel, swapping bits with friends and building up a collection on the
mantelpiece. The fin off an incendiary bomb was a treasured item. There
were brick shelters at the entrance to the recreation ground at the end of
Plough Rd extension where children used to stand and watch buzz bombs fly
over towards Kingston. Possibly aimed for the Decca factory. The ones that
landed in West Ewell were probably meant for London. An unexploded shell
had to be dealt with in Cherry Way.
Dogfights gave plenty of entertainment during the day. At the beginning of
the war shops would close down when the sirens went but later they carried
on business. Daytime raids were largely ignored but the night-time raids
were treated with more respect. Anti-Aircraft guns were carried on the
Horton Light Railway and also along the min line; their blast shattered
windows in Chessington Rd. The light railway was often a target and the
engine shed was damaged and a length of track destroyed in two separate
incidents. Searchlights in West Park were also a target and the Hospitals
were a land mark for the navigators finding London and were hit many
times, when search lights were taken away the bombing became less intense.
Horton Hospital was used as a military Hospital.
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There
was a ammunition factory in West St. Ewell, there was also a small
factory in one of the shops in Chessington Road for sub-contracting
light engineering work. They produced parts for aircraft etc. and
were staffed mainly by women. There was a wardens post in Plough
Road where the Weeks house is now and a public shelter in Bakers
field.
The factory unit in Chessington Rd
pictured in 2005.
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Bins were put out in the streets to
collect food scraps for pigs. Children would collect bags of acorns for
the pigs which they got paid per bushel. Some enterprising gardeners would
collect horse dung from the road after delivery carts had been to use on
the garden. Most people grew vegetables in both back and front gardens and
part of the playing fields were allotments. All Saints Church Hall was
requisitioned by the Council for use as a British Restaurant. During the
war there was double summer time and the kids and dads would play cricket
on the field opposite Cherry way late into the evening. They mowed and
levelled the grass specially.
Various recipes had to be used to make use of the available ingredients,
such as vegetable pies and suet mixed with Bovril and whale meat. Other
meat would consist mainly of corned beef and the occasional sausage (if
you were lucky) or for a treat, offal. 2 oz of cheese butter and tea each
and half a pound of sugar. Fruit was in short supply. Food and clothing
coupons were often swapped around friends and relatives. British
Restaurants would supply off rationed food. There was one at the TA centre
and one at the church hall in Fulford Rd. On D Day people in West Ewell
could hear the guns firing even from their gardens. On V.E. day flags were
hung between houses and people had red white and blue flowers in the
garden, everyone came out to the street
In the 20's shell shocked veterans from the first war lived in Horton
Hospital, they were dressed in blue out-fits. They played cricket with the
locals and were called the Blue Coats
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