Panic in an Air Raid

My Parents, James M Winders and Janet Turnbull married in March 1939.
World War 2 started later that year.

My father worked as a draughtsman at Swan Hunter’s shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne, and they lived close to the shipyard.

Prior to their marriage, they were both keen on sports, and my father was still playing rugby despite the war.

One evening after work, they decided to go to the cinema, which was about ¾ of a mile away from their house. During the film, they heard the whine of the air raid siren, and as normally happened, a notice was put up on the screen warning that there was a possible air raid. It was however not uncommon for no planes to appear after a warning, although air raids had taken place in that part of Newcastle. They decided to stay on and watch the film to the end. On leaving the cinema the commissionaire advised them that the ‘all clear’ had not yet been sounded, although he had not seen any planes since the warning was sounded, and it seemed the warning was a false alarm.

They set off to walk home down the long slope of the Fossway. The Fossway was/is a long straight major street, with wide pavements, down which they had to walk about ¾ mile before turning into their street.

They had not gone far when a German plane came overhead and dropped a flare which lit up they whole area and starkly revealed them as the only people in the Fossway.

My mother shouted ’he’s going to machine gun us’ and started to run for home.
My father shouted after her but she kept on running so he set off after her.
All the odds were on his side, she was wearing high heels and a close fitting ‘pencil’ skirt, he was fit and played full back for his rugby team.
She continued to draw away from him.
He put all his strength into running, realising that she was gripped by panic and he wanted to comfort her and assure her that she was safe.
She continued to draw away from him and he just fell further and further behind.
When he turned into his street, Westbourne Avenue, there was no sign of his wife. Eventually he found her in the neighbour’s air raid shelter, still distressed, being comforted by their neighbours.

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