FIRST WW2 AIR RAID on norwich TARGETS sprowston

Norwich was first bombed by German planes on 9 July 1940.The raid, carried out by three Luftwaffe bombers began shortly before 5pm and  the Sprowston Grange home of Barclays Bank director Charles Hammond found itself an unlikely first target . Hammond was attending a board meeting of the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital at the time, but two of his household staff, parlour maid Kathleen Le-Good and cook Iris Fortescue, had just settled themselves by a bay window for afternoon tea.  Kathleen recalled: “I’d had just one bite of a bun when there was this terrific bang.” In that moment the house shook and windows shattered, showering them with glass. “We rushed into the corridor and stood there shaking, holding on to each other. It was a terrifying experience.” They scrambled outside only to find the ground around flailed by machine-gun fire . Fortunatley they escaped unharmed, but 60-year-old Kate Lovett who lived at the nearby Grange Cottage was fatally injured when one of the bombs demolished her home as she sheltered beneath a table.

Quite why the Grange was picked out is unclear, though Kathleen and Iris were among several local people to speculate that the intended target was Sprowston Hall which had been taken over by the military.

  Next to be  attacked was Barnard's Iron Works on Salhouse Road  which manufactured gunshells and parts for the Hurricane bomber .  Four  men were  killed   and by the end of that afternoon, 22 more people had died. Many buildings had been destroyed or seriously damaged including  Thorpe train station and the Boulton and Paul works at Riverside. 

Five women  who were walking up Carrow  Hill after finishing their shifts at the nearby Colman's factory were killed when a bomb exploded above their heads. Maud Ballam, 40, and Bessie Upton, 36, were killed instantly. Bessie Playford, 19, died later that day at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and Gladys Sampson, 18, died the following day.Maud Burrell, 37, clung to life for three days before dying of her injuries.

Despite the horrendous loss of life, very little information about the air raid appeared in the press.

GILL AT SCHOOL

''I was a pupil at the Notre Dame School in Norwich as was my sister who very reluctantly took charge of my daily journey as she also attended as a pupil.  The crowded bus from Sprowston each day meant that it was not uncommon to see distressed people, mainly young women, who had received news of a loved one’s death.  I found this very bewildering .At school we seemed to spend more time in the cloakroom in the basement, than we ever did in our classroom.  It was here that we prayed endlessly, were given rosaries, and practised wearing our gas masks.  Walking down Surrey Street became another world…  the piece of land next to the school was the victim of bombing as was All Saints Green, and the bottom of Surrey Street where it met St Stephen’s where Debenham’s now stands was a huge crater which was a lovely playground with its mountains of rubble.  Although it was off limits I would scramble down the slope and play hide and seek there with my friends.  Nobody bothered us and told us that it was unsafe. The great adventure for all the young boys including my brother was the collecting of shrapnel, which was prolific.  ''

Listen to Gill talk about school by clicking on the link

Going to school 

LIVING IN A SHOP

''The evenings at home were very sociable.  My mother kept the shop open as long as possible, and she was always busy.  Rationing meant more work as cheese, butter sugar, and eggs all had to be weighed exactly.  Items like bacon, cake, jam and many tinned goods were in short supply and a great deal of tact had to be used when selling them, as customers became very difficult to please if they thought they were not being treated fairly.

As my mother had been an accountant before her marriage, adding up and collating the ration points was something she enjoyed doing.  The table would be covered with these paper coupons and this routine took place monthly.

The other memory I have is of the weekly bartering that went on every Friday evening in our shop.  Everybody who had local businesses met in out shop to settles their dues.  There was the butcher, the baker the newsagent, the greengrocer and the haberdasher.  They would keep me awake with their banter ‘’ You had 6 sausages and I had carrots and potatoes so that evens out’’ I had been the errand girl who had done the shopping but I was never given money for the items, it was always settled at the end of the week.  No wonder money means so little to me!!  .  My brother spent most of his wartime taking shopping to customers in the village.  One great loss was our phone which was considered a luxury by the Post Office and was taken away.  Somehow orders for food were received still, but it was yet another sacrifice the war demanded. '' 

Click the link to listen to Gill talking about the shop

The shop 

LOCAL AIRFIELDS

Rackheath airfield was laid out on agricultural land between the two settlements of Rackheath Parva and Rackheath Magna. It was opened on 11 March 1944 for the use of the United States Army Air Force and was manned by the 467th Bombardment Group  from Utah .Planes from Rackheath were involved in bombing campaigns in Germany and France.

The airfield at RAF Coltishall was completed and entered service in May 1940 as a fighter base. During the Second World War, Coltishall operated the Hawker Hurricane. One notable fighter pilot was Douglas Bader.

GILL'S THOUGHTS ABOUT LIVING THROUGH THE WAR

''My recollection of the war time years was one of acceptance, I had never eaten a banana so did not miss them. There were always sweets stuck to the bottom of sweet jars that were not sale-able, so they were extracted somehow and I was the beneficiary.  Sugar, sifted from the bottom of its hessian sack could be used by us, and cracked eggs meant a healthy breakfast.  For a child of my age, living in a grocery shop made the war bearable in many ways.  I was unaware of the danger we were in, although a rare trip to Mundesley and seeing a land mine washed up on the beach was very salutary.''

Gill talks about the end of the war.  Click the link to listen to her.

                The end of the war