Coventry Standard from Coventry, West Midlands, England • 5

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 10 1950 THE COVENTRY STANDARD I Could See in the Centre of Coventry a Raging HOW THE OLD MEN OF HOSPITAL WITHSTOOD THREE RAIDS all the difference in the frortd Out of Control the soundest buildings in the centre of Coventry and only Maud Ingram Matron i ceiling was down-that of i the Board Room ot bond Hospital On returning to I was told by Mr Vaughan to telephone for a fire brigade as a fire at the bottom of Hill Street There was a particularly was out of control As I did beautiful sunrise on that morn-! so HEs fell near and another ing The sky was pearly pink fire was well alight lower down and blue over the smoking ruins i the street Hospital was It is on pedigree and past performance that horses can best be judged why more farmers throughout the world have backed the Farmall to stay the course The Farmall was first in 1922 the original allpurpose tractor: the MCCORMICK International Farmall is first today embodying all the refinements in design and construction that only 27 field experience can provide Full details available on request INTERNATIONAL FARMALL WRITE PHONE OR CALL still safe The fire In the cloister was troublesome ana I was there with young Ingram when HEs destroyed ihe New digate Arms on the opposite side of Hill Street We had time to shelter in a 1 recess at the bottom of the stairs On coming out we! found and the people in it safe Mr Vaughan and Mr Robson came in having extri-cated themselves from the ruins of the Newdigate They presented a queer spectacle I MATTERSONS The King with the Mayor (the late Alderman A Moseley) and Alderman Halliwell (chairman of the Emergency Committee) making a tour of the devastated city following the great raid Army lorries were brought into the city to carry away some of Hospital is the ancient almshouse which has stood on I the north side of St John's Church Fleet Street Coventry i for nearly 450 years 1940 The Old Men Played Cards SIROM August onwards we had many disturbed nights owing to air-raids On two oc- i casions windows and tiles were smashed On the night of November 14 1940 there were in Bond's Hospital 15 old men a young widow and her daughter aged six a young girl Mr and Mrs Vaughan and Mr George Robson of the Newdigate Arms (all neighbours) Mrs Swallow (my assistant) and myself The incendiaries soon began to fall and several fell in our locality These we managed to put out Then high-explosives came down and the noise of these the planes and the guns is not to be forgotten The old men sat in the smoker oom (which is nearly sound-proof) and played cards The woman and the child sat under the stairs An incendiary came down by the front door We got the hose ready waited (MATTERSON HUXLEY WATSON LTD) COVENTRY Extension 13 Phone 4081 8 Lines of the City of Coventry 1941 The Second Blitz On the evening of March 21 1941 a meeting was called at the Tower Wail Tavern Bund Street and the Bond Street Hill Street and Riley Street Voluntary Street Fire Party was formed with Hospital smokeroom as GHQ It was agreed that each man should sign the book when he did his night on duty April 8 1 have described in the book as the night of the second The fire-watchers on duty were Bailey Sanders Beauchamp and Stockley I do not know of any incendiaries falling on Hospital that night but there were fires very near Heavy HE's fell near and as our chimneys needed sweeping the result to our clothing and complexions was astonishing The heavy backdoor was torn off its hinges and much damage done to the windows I went to see Mr John the debris and to make the streets passable The majestic steeples of St and Holy Trinity are seen as sentinels above the carnage being covered with greenish grey mortar dust and wearing steel helmets Church Roof Afire The fires in Hill Street were now very bad but brigades were working on them The church roof was on fire but wras brought under control The furnishings of St Chapel were badly damaged At this time Mr Welch in his 90th year was in Hospital garden putting out these fire with soil and a spade So he kept his Oath and used his skill as a gardener This man refused to lie down in a raid having done it for any man and not starting for Hitler! Nearly Choked Things became quieter EAT EAT AUSTRALIAN df HONEY THE APRIL BLITZ By Mrs Hill 59 Batsford Road Coventry REMEMBER the blitz of I 1 April 8 and 9 for it seemed I to be concentrated on the i outskirts of the town We were in Coventry from the start and for those who had to stay it was nerve-wracking We never had a shelter of our own and we shared our the fire In the cloister was still next door being smouldering on the beams in inside five or six hours and put Middleton aged 85 who was in bed on the bottom corridor I said: Middleton your out the spreading flames The Windows Held windows are blown out again Are you going to get up? I said Mr Middleton wrapping his head in the bedclothes Tea With Soot I went with Mr Twigger to see if we could help at the bottom of Holyhead Road Matters were beyond our help The west window of the church was falling out in pieces We returned to where tiles and windows were falling The raid abated It was a very cold the flooring and men were working with stirrup pumps and I was running about with axes crowbars etc The men being needed elsewhere I was left to see that the fire was kept in check By that time our voices were cracked and we were nearly choked by a mix- sometimes all night I began to develop asthma so decided to I stay in my own home The raid we felt the most started on April 8 and went on until 6 am the next day We were lucky compared with our neighbours because several lost their husbands and sons that night Very soon the blast blew off the smokeroom shutters but the windows held and very little glass was broken on the Hill Street side of the house No one was injured Now that the shutters were out we could see that the gas-holder in Hill Street was burning as also were sweet factory In Bond Street and the garage on Holy-head Road Those of us who went out could see the centre of the city a raging inferno We hoped that the hospitals were safe Mr George Sidwell came to tell us that St Church east window was blown out and that the organ pipes could be seen The old men were now divided between the sand-bagged room Coventry Station as it appeared on the morning of November 15 Travelling was interrupted but not for long AIR ture of smoke-screen smoulder When a large bomb fell in the ing wood and burning rubber roadway near the street shel-I ter At about 4 am there was INCIDENTS OF THE RAID PERIOD night but we had a good fire in Back once more in the smokeroom and plenty ot smokeroom I found that some hot tea Alderman Fred Lee heer had arrived from the Town end his night watchman came wall also a young man with down after the all clear and at i abrasions for me to first-aid about 5 am (with a bombed- He was not seriously injurtd When Moonlight Nights Meant Danger cohaiiting the antique chairs SS Jlofournre Party all where) had tea among the COVENTRY TRUSTEE SAVINGS BANK a direct hit on the house next door number 49 and it just crumpled up It was like an awful hurricane it seemed to lift us up and down and the firegrate and windows in our 1 house blew out ALVIS ABLAZE We thought it was our house until someone told us what had happened Bricks and masonry were dropping all over and we DO you remember teft years cianc and the corridor outside the ago those bright moon- no more Slogans smokeroom Someone called light nights? After the sirens a shopkeeper whose pre- from the gateway that the roof had sounded there seemed to be noises were for the fourth time was on fire We got the hose ANNUAL BALANCE we escaped serious injury in spite soot in my sitting-room 0f the fact that they were often In Greatest Peril quite near HEs- A large in ureatest rerii tree on th" Quadrangle was Long and dreadful as was the torn up and thrown into the night of November 14-15 and churchyard The Rev Ralph an ominous stillness while ears were alert awaiting the rever in ruins said The first time and rushed upstairs but could we moved to new premises we not find any fire There were high-explosives very near and ALL OFFICES of the BANK will be CLOSED on MONDAY the 20th NOVEMBER on the occasion of the Annual Balance berating moan of the night 1 pUt a slogan in the window bombers The stillness was Bombed but we still carry almost complete save for the The second time his shop gentle humming of (he wind in was burnt out so a slogan went Clayton Rector of St and the Rev Graham Reeves I dared nof leave The AlvLs Curate came to see us as is factory was ablaze The local I Bablake stood in greatest peril their custom during raids They cinema and shopping centre Things were quiet until about went back to the church to fimi had already gone I was under a chimney-pot and glass fell The Hours Went By the cables of the barrage bal- am and we were think- that fire had broken out again getting some rest when and they spent the next two with a rain of incen- hours fighting it HEAD OFFICE: 69 HERTFORD STREET COVENTRY Branches at: Greyfriars Lane Coventry Foleshill Road Coventry 19 Dormer Place Leamington Spa 3 Albert Street Rugby the stairs when the bomb completely destroyed my next door house I suffered from delayed shock and was eventually evacuated to Derby- shire Our house was severely damaged and was quite up: out bombed out but still going When the shop was demolished for the third time he wrote on a card Even the Germans cannot resist our Now on this fourth occasion" he said I simply cannot think what to say Full of Holes The injury to the hospital The firewatchers for night were Vaughan Wetton 3 Davenport and A Milner We had Blast swept through the house repeatedly The hours passed slowly and the raid went on We all found that our diaries tongues stuck to our mouths The young woman was very upset but the child was very brave and kept quiet if she could hear me answer her and see the light of my torch The little cat took refuge with them under the stairs When things had got a little quieter Mr Vaughan fetched some rum 1230 ing of it started that Robson plenty of men The dealt The of fire There of sand and a number Tofem The were soon on the spot RfmneVc and stacks were in a fires by the back door were cnimneys ana stack were in a the roof 1 Eye-witness Stories of the Blitz Owing to the large number of personal eye-witness stories about the air-raids on Coventry which have been received by Coventry Standard this special feature will be continued next week OLD PLAYED with easily Quadrangle was a carpet but sand kept it down was a fire in the roof of the General Charities Office and one in the top Cloister of Old Bablake School I saw Mr CM i coufi ill very bad state and was full of holes One incendiary came through on to the Board Room staircase but only burned the carpet We lost a few more windows and have many cracks in the walls Fallen plaster I UJ hi A fTf and glass were as silver in the viiiuun js-j days of Solomon THE FRAIL LADY was the and everyone had some and felt warmer for by that time we were all getting cold As it Remarkable Escape A house on the Queen Isabels Lichfield Road was demolished A few minutes i before the bomb fell the occupant had left his wife and I children in their garden shelter in order to fetch a coat from the house He managed to get beneath the stairs and this saved his life The stairs were the only part of the house left standing corner of Avenue and Cheylesmore began to get light we decided Davenport get a ladder up and that the raid was over and carry sand to the roof of the went to look at our damage We General Charities Office He morning after one -I of the great raids A woman slowly swept her front door- HHliVwrhe old men did not at any I steP There was no house School I did this till they ap- time seem unduly upset and behind her She just swept peared safe I now saw that Mr Joseph Crutchlow (who and swept and swept the top cloister was burning sleeps on the bottom corridor g0 recalls Mrs Lisbeth found that a high-explosive had fallen nearly in the middle of the Quadrangle The windows facing that side were broken or blown out altogether one chimney-pot was off and several damaged The and Mr Robson and and a woman and is quite deaf) remained in Biickeride Fom Salt-sheltering at bed through all the raids He JiCKS all it was onlv one helped to carry sand to did hear a bump now and again 1 paretic little incidents I a coup he roof was in holes all over hundreds of tiles being damaged We were nevertheless one of put on it nnr nn i loons Then came the parachute flares which illuminated the whole city the swish of in- cendiaries and finally the I he licking Bomb min i A large delayed action bomb iVPS hours 0 wo was excavated into buildups and sau The streets were cleared and Griipsnme Finds it was taken to Whitley Com- uruesome rinas moA t0 be exploded It was When early one morning a ticking and might have gone huge bomb dropped near the 1 0ff any time The intrepid Hippodrome destroying a num- troops of the bomb disposal says of 4d Powders are wonderful for COLDS and CHILLS Owing to their powder form they set to work without delay to bring you speedy safe relief The headachy feeling goes sneezing stops those uncomfortable shivers and aches subside Soon you can cheerfully exclaim That's Powders I for FOR COLDS CHILLS FEVERISHNESS HEADACHES RHEUMATIC PAINS LUMBAGO Cartons 8 Powders I ber of small houses and a shop the butcher and his family were entombed Rescue workers digging them out excavated among the debris and brought out chunks of raw meat making the incident look teen no casualties far more gruesome than it really was Bomb Disposal Humour Lorries used by demolition Iron Kaiungs squads were chalked with Thousands of iron railings amusing slogans Bring out around houses and other pre-1 your Distance no mises in Coventry were sawn object Courtesy with effi-off and used to make munitions etc that until now have never been known NO FEAR One thing that Mrs Bucker-I idge mentions is the remark- able attitude of the old people towards the raids One old man said to me: better I if supply free beer till I the danger An old lady frail she was played cribbage all through the raids and never I entered a shelter She showed i no Mrs Buckeridge was in the midst of the danger through-! I out those years Now 52 years I of age she writes: an eye- witness I wbuld say the chief thing the November (1940) and! the April 1941 raids reminded me oi was the retreat scene in Gone with the when Scarlett makes for Tara I in the very ramshackle wagon I solid wall of fire as back-! i ground sideground and tore- THE BIGGEST TRIAL After recalling the litter in gardens of books china mat-! tresess pictures brass candlesticks and other bric-a-brac Mrs Buckeridge goes on to speak of personal feelings about the raids The biggest trial of the raids for those of us who were not hurt was loss of sleep From October 1940 until May 3941 I think anyone had The ALSO IN TABLET FORM 16 PE 8 0 DOMESTIC INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURAL FUELS HEATING BY 'COAL IS STILL THE CHEAPEST TELEPHONE COVENTRY 60004 Hertford Street was badly damaged Home Guard workers as well as Regular Army troops had the job of making the roads passable -1 Their menfolk indeed coming for A irtnA f-f limhlnrl renl V1 lion a rest off again to the lac- raids brought a ran spirit oi yU6(19 I llllllULLLL ill IU Ls Ji(illi5LL jtwsefeu was light wore helpfulness between neigh- a good rest 12 PARK ROAD COVENTRY merchants grimmer countenances only to be hours Needless to say she ness of mothers jStef Jnfvivf But Coventiv have been "U1V 1Vf l0r ong after these in Our Fortitude INVEST IN BRICKS MORTAR It is an investment well secured easily withdrawn and remunerative During the 66 years of its existence no investor in the Society has ever lost a penny Particulars from THE LARGEST WARWICKSHIRE SOCIETY COVENTRY PERMANENT ECONOMIC BUILDING SOCIETY HIGH STREET COVENTRY FILLONGLEY MAN PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE COURAGE OF COVENTRY VITRITING in Th? Tim oil November 28 1940 Air Carter of Artev House Fillongley raid: It might be useful just now to record the impressions cf one living in a village near enough to Adam de Coventry to have its awn casualties We here awed humbled exalted I sisters Botoner who built Joan Ward the first of try Lollard martvrs Sarah Kemble (Mrs married and Ellen Terry School 0t cnooi (bt Marys as mono- raids it was i the spire extra work because the light the Coven- and heat wee just no (here Here That meant extra lighting fires Siddons1 was was born WATER IN BUCKETS Hrif Lack of electricity and gas nau is was trying Ir was however restored in time for Christmas its indomitable FRANKS) AND SMILES water supply to my children of all ages judging house was renewed a little irom their pranks and smiles seem sooner than most others and JS2S i sttJle01ialIF0Siun: people came for suppli by our fortitude are but one of the hods far people At once our village organisa- I be confessed if l0S vS as Swa and school (with its little domestf have embraced them for coming village ARP logs models of con-! Excitement was in evidence centre) rapidly improvised accom- In spite of sorrow heaped upon cjse precise English written during the day getting ready modation and communal meals missing sons homes mamlv by ex-elementary school- for the next night and bum- not one complaint did I bovs ine with a sense oi bein useful OCR NEW GUESTS hear from these families not The in spite of (or When it was all over came dull- It lias indeed been an unfor- I of? its barbafiti 15 ness- Quarrels and boredom gettable experience to receive our Sd tBm thev 1 mdeed wcin our people together Ust the same as be ween new mieris' carrying their all arens waue9 uat tney will as never before is itself forging a nations net guesu cayms ui 1 nflvpL eir new world asit pursues its ruth- i -j never heard 'Vtf nor forget their lest nyone say 0 AC BRANCHES AT 2 CHURCH STREET BEDWORTH AND 2 CASTLE STREET RUGBY a barn a loft or something useiui immediate visit) from the lumber-room expressing mg nnmeaiate visit) ess courts At tve begin to know ourselves and each other HAIlGtE i they wished the ar were Everyone knew and believed we must stick gratitude that it was curs not "Above all it is impossible to 'humble and less humble poor and theirs to give Some of us (let it exaggerate the womens courage less poor.