Banstead Village

On the day the doodlebug landed, my mum was at work at the fire station when she was told to go home – she didn’t know what to expect. When she arrived at Salisbury Road the fire pumps had hoses all over the place, and her house seemed to be the first one on the Sutton Lane side of the road to have survived intact enough not to need demolishing. All the plaster had come down off the ceilings, but her main memory was that she laughed when she saw that the front door had come off and was leaning against the hedge at the end of the front garden, with the morning post (or possibly a newspaper) poked half way through the letter box.

My father was in the Police (War Reserve/Special?) at the time and remembered the litter of playing cards strewn over the road having been blown up in the Police 'canteen' that was behind the Smithy.

Thanks Nigel, that's the first time I have heard of a police canteen behind the Smithy. Do you have any photographs or other memories from your father? LW

I love your mother's sense of humour, Barry!

My brother and I had been evacuated to Chorley, Lancs, at the time the doodlebug fell. My mother was taking refuge in the communal shelter at the recreation ground in Avenue Road. (A photograph was recently added, so thanks for that.) Our house in Sandersfield Road was damaged by the blast, but not too seriously.

A young friend and I (we were aged about 8) loved playing on the piles of rubble that were left at the top of Buff Avenue. I cut my foot very badly, and was taken to the Sutton and Cheam Hospital in Belmont. (I can't remember who took me - no ambulances for such 'minor' injuries in those days!) To this day, I have a very impressive scar.

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