My Life in the Birmingham Blitz

In 1941 I was an ll year old girl living on a Fire Station in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, where my Father was a Fire Officer.
I had been unsuccessfully evacuated in 1939 to South Wales - but that's another story!
When the Blitz was at it's height in 1941 Dad was continuously out fighting fires and the bombs fell all around the Fire Station which fortunately did not receive a direct hit.
Mom was understandably very concerned and decided to find a safe place for us with my Grandfather, Albert Langford, who was the Curator at the County Courts in Corporation Street, in the centre of Birmingham, about 1 mile from home.
The basement of the County Courts had been converted to an Air Raid Shelter for the Judges and this shelter had every convenience that could be imagined. Not only did it have Flush toilets, but also Heating, Air Conditioning, good beds, mechanical drills to dig ourselves out should a direct hit be received, the doors were of thick steel with a large wheel operated locking mechanism, rather like on a submarine, and the ceiling was supported by rows of steel girders. The Judges never used the Shelter at any time during the War.
For the whole period that raids could be expected I went to school every day near to the Fire Station and then walked with my Mother and younger sister across the City to the County Courts.
Every night that a raid was on my Mother, my sister and myself, with Granddad and Grandma and sometimes one or more of my Aunts, walked out of the Curator's basement flat and into the shelter, taking our books and games, and slept quite comfortably in the nice beds, disturbed only by the loud echoing and rumbling of the exploding bombs, and when Granddad had to leave the shelter to do his firewatching on the roof of the building.
On the few occasions that dad was not on duty he would join us in the shelter, and go firewatching with Granddad.
Each morning I would do the return trek to school, passing the bombed buildings, including the house of one of my friends in Albion Street where, as I learned later, all the family had been killed.
I suppose that I and my family were very lucky to have access to such a wonderful Air Raid Shelter, when most people had to sit in damp Anderson or Public Shelters.

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