Stories
World War 2
Introduction
At the start of the war Mum, Dad and Granddad Jeffries were working in the Cooperative Wholesale Society's factory in Silvertown, East London. Dad worked as a maintenance fitter looking after the factory's machines. Mum worked on the foodstuffs packing lines, and at various times she did all of the individual jobs on the lines, from feeding in the cardboard to be folded into boxes to sealing them at the end. There was one job that was disliked by all the staff on the lines, and that was the filling of the pepper containers. Granddad Jeffries was the works' foreman, and was in charge of the factory. Mum remembers that the senior management did not work there.
Mum was living at 15 Engineer Road, Woolwich with Gran, Arthur and Ivy. She used to bicycle to and from work. If she was early she would take the Woolwich Ferry, but usually she walked through the foot tunnel. Quite often she was not able to take the bicycle in the lift because of loading regulations, so she would carry it up and down the steps. Dad was living with his parents in Redbridge Lane.
At the time, Mum had been going out with her boyfriend, Stanley Chapman, for about two years. Stanley had been a boy soldier and before the war started he was called up. Mum and Dad had often spoken to each other, so when Dad heard that Mum and Stanley had broken up in March 1940, he asked Mum out. They were engaged soon afterwards.
Incident at Engineer Road
While Mum was still living with Gran and Ivy at 15 Engineer Road, Woolwich, they used to sleep in an Anderson Shelter. One night a bomb fell down the side of next door's shelter, but did not explode. Many people in the area then spent the next week in Maryon Park School in Charlton, while the bomb was dealt with.
Bombing of Cooperative Wholesale Society's Factory
The factory would normally be open on Saturdays, but on one Saturday (probably 7th September 1940 - see below), Granddad decided that there was not enough to do to justify opening. On that day, the factory was destroyed in a bombing raid.
The raid that destroyed the Co-op factory is probably the one described by William L Shirer in his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
He writes that "on Saturday 7th September [1940] at about 5pm the first wave of 320 bombers, protected by every fighter that the Germans had, flew up the Thames and began to drop their bombs on Woolwich Arsenal, various gas works, powers stations, depots and mile upon mile of docks. The whole vast area was soon a sea of flames. At one locality, Silvertown, the population was surrounded by fire and had to be evacuated by water" There was a second wave of attacks later in the evening and they then continued every day throughout the following week.
Mum tells me that had they been in work, they would still have been there, as leaving time was 5.30/6 o'clock. Had they been there they would have gone down to the basement.
When I was young there was a large bomb site in Tewson Road and a smaller one in Lakedale Road, which may have been caused by stray bombs in the above attacks.
Luton
After the destruction of the Silvertown Works, the company moved to Luton and Dad, who by then had become engaged to Mum, and Granddad went with them. Mum had to sign on, and after a short while got a job at Siemans in Charlton, South London. The job involved working with batteries and Mum came home very dirty. Dad wasn't happy about this and they therefore decided to set the wedding date, so that she could give up the job.
Dad was still working in Luton, when he and Mum married. After the wedding, Dad returned to his job in Luton and Mum went with him.
Incident at Redbridge Lane - About 1944
One night the family, Gran, Granddad, Gladys, Gill, Margaret and Philip, were lucky to escape when a German plane crashed.
My cousin, Gill Mullings, has provided her mother's recollections of the incident - "The plane came down on our house with the wing on next door. We were all in the Anderson shelter and were ok but all in next door were killed. Mum now says that she and I were in bed and had to run out quickly, helped by the blackout wardens and the bodies of the pilots were laid out in the road. She also said that some people from the war office came down to Redbridge Lane to look at the plane crash. The whole family had to move out for about a year and lived in house in a road off Roding Lane." Mum said that she thinks that Granddad was in the garden and saw the plane come down. She also thinks that the plane was German.
Mum, who was in Eastern Avenue at the time, seems to think that afterwards Gran had told her that Granddad was standing at the kitchen door looking at the searchlights, despite Gran asking him to come away fom the door. Granddad said that it was interesting to watch and then said that the searchlights had picked up a plane. Mum thinks that the body of the plane hit the house next door, killing the occupants, and that the wing clipped the edge of the roof of Gran and Granddad's house.
Of course, Mum and Gladys were recalling an event that took place over sixty five years ago.
Eastern Avenue
After a time in Luton, Dad was allocated to the Co-op's premises in Leman Street, London and Granddad retired and returned to Redbridge Lane. For a few weeks Mum and Dad also stayed at Redbridge Lane, and then found a place to rent in a house owned by Mrs Collins in Eastern Avenue, and it was here that their first son, Tony, was born in Nov 1942.
They shared the house with the landlady, Mrs Collins. One of the downstairs rooms had a large metal cage in which they slept as some protection from bombing.
Mum and Granddad Jeffries
Mum remembers that she was rather scared of Granddad. When Mum's Dad died in 1935, Granddad at first refused to let Mum have time off to attend the funeral. He only relented when Mum said that her friend would take her place and that "the young Mr Jeffries" would oversee her. I suspect that he was under pressure from the management to keep up production. Certainly, my cousin Gill remembers him as a lovely man.
Not so lucky
My maternal Grandmother's brother, William John Abbott, was not so lucky. During an air raid he wanted to stay overground, but a warden insisted that he go into a shelter. The shelter was hit by a bomb and William was killed.
Evacuation
In 1944 Mum Gladys and Margaret decide to go on voluntary evacuation to Accrington in Lancashire. The move was organised by Gladys and Margaret, but they did not stay together. The first place Mum went to was so filthy that she asked to be moved and was sent to 7 West Crescent with a married couple. She became friendly with the neighbours at number 5, a couple and their son. Mum said that she and Gladys and Margaret used to meet up. Mum went to the cinema in the town centre a couple of times with her landlady and at other times by herself.
Reserved Occupation
Dad's occupation as a maintenance fitter in a food production factory was classed as a reserved occupation, which meant that he was exempted from service in the armed forces. Granddad Jeffries was exempted in WW1 as a foreman in a food production factory, and probably would also have been exempted in WW2, although he was probably too old to be called up anyway.
Whilst working at Leman Street during the war, Dad was an Air Raid Warden and had to be on duty Friday nights, which meant that he did not have to work on Saturday. Dad contined to work at Leman Street until he retired in 1972.
Documents
Mum and Dad's ID Cards
Dad's National Service Registration Card
Mum's Medical Card
Granddad Jeffries's Bomb Protection Certificate
To Lakedale Road
In 1946, Mum and Dad had to leave Eastern Avenue, because of the return of Mrs. Collins's son from the war, so they bought the house in Lakedale Road.