Life in Ipswich

This story is submitted by Teresa Riches granddaughter of Sybil Riches. Sybil is in agreement to this being printed.

I remember hearing the sirens going off at night. They were very loud so you couldn't not hear them. At the time I had two young children and we had to get them up and wrap them in a shawl and go down to the Anderson Shelter. We kept a few things in the shelter like a rug to keep us warm and a bottle of water, but you couldnt prepare a flask because you never knew when it was going to happen and if you left water in there for too long it would freeze.

My husband was a warden, some men took it in turns to patrol the streets when the sirens went off. He used to check for incendiary bombs and had to report it to the people who managed them.

At the end of our road there were soldiers stationed there. I dont know if they were American but the young women used to hang around there! One night an incendiary bomb fell there and knocked the tiles and a chimney off the roofs opposite.

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