My War Time Story

My War Time story
By Bob wood

I was born in 1937,
49 Drake Street,
Haverton Hill.

First thing about war time memories, strange how with being so young what i saw is still imprinted in my mind.
I remember the night we lost our home.
Coming out of the "Anderson Shelter" in the back garden and finding our home had suffered serious bomb blast damaged.
The circle of houses adjacent to ours in Drake Street had been severely damaged by bombs.
Due to this we had to walk to my grans "The Robinsons" of Ruby Street.
Because of bomb damaged in St.Vincent Street we had to detour along Cowpen Road.
During the time living in Ruby Street i remember the concrete air raid shelter on the green opposite.
One night after a bombing raid i can still remember coming out of the shelter and seeing a house on the street corner of Young Street (which ran alongside Ruby Street) and Cowpen Road which had its staircase hanging from the wall of the next door house, after a direct bomb hit.
After leaving Ruby Street we lived in various houses depending on other families providing us with rooms.
We eventually moved into a new council house in Billingham in 1947.
I remember "Queens Drive" in Billingham and two houses in Wolviston Village.
One in the High Street and the other the "White House" opposite the duck pond.
I remember going out one morning and seeing a parachute hanging from trees at the edge of the village. Road now only a walk way to Wolviston Court Estate where i now live.
All thats left now of the "Furness Estate" Haverton Hill which was a thriving community for the ship yard is a clump of trees.
I still drive past with my grandchildren and point out the clump of trees where once our house had stood. I still have my gas mask which every one was issued with during the War.
The above is my contribution to the WW2 Peoples War.

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