This news report featured in the Bromley & District Times in mid-October 1940 and gives an insight into how life carried on as normal for the residents of London during the Blitz of 1940. LONDON CARRIES ON 35-MILE TOUR AFTER THE BLITZKRIEG THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE The early morning train was crowded, and subsequent stops, and we were soon speeding along side by side with other trains, equally crowded with men and women, boys and girls, all headed for London. Surely not for London after the Blitzkrieg visitations…
Month: October 2019
Autumn History Talks with Pam
Pam will be giving a number of fascinating talks this Autumn to local groups in the London Borough of Bromley. Her first talk will be held on Thursday 31st October at St Martins Church in Chelsfield where she will be talking about the development of the Council estate in Bromley which were built after the war to help with the housing shortage View details here > She will also be giving this talk to the Farnborough Social Club in Orpington on Friday 1st November. Details here > On Tuesday…
Spirit of the People Unbroken during Air Battles over SE England
The Blitz began on 7th September 1940, ‘Black Saturday’, when German bombers attacked London, leaving 430 dead and over 1,600 injured. London was then bombed for 57 consecutive nights, and often during daytime too. While London was bombed more heavily and more often than anywhere else in Britain, the Blitz was an attack on the whole country. By the time this article was published on the 18th October 1940, London had endured 42 days of attacks by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). Air Battles over S.E. England Several…
Wanton Bombing of Hospital
Sister Killed, Four Nurses Injured Stories of miraculous escapes and high courage A Sister was killed and hours nurses severely injured when German raiders deliberately attacked a South-East hospital during Wednesday night. High explosive and oil bombs were dropped and a kitchen an the female reception ward suffered most. While nurses and patients were being rescued from the debris caused by the first attached the enemy came back and dropped a 1,000lb bomb outside one of the newer hospital buildings. Despite their terrifying experiences, nurses, doctors and rescue workers carried…
Man Survives Air Raid which Destroyed his House
When a bomb demolished a house in a suburb on Saturday afternoon, the owner was inside. To the amazement of the A.R.P. workers who were at once on the spot, the man crawled from the wreckage suffering only from cuts and shock. Here he is being taken to a nearby first-aid post. Press Censorship during World War Two Newspapers rarely gave details of the exact location of successful bombing raids, so we may never know where this incident happened, nor who the lucky survivor was. When war broke out…
How OXO helped Strengthen the Home Front
How OXO helped Strengthen the Home Front In 1840 a German chemist, by the name of Baron Justus von Liebig (1803-1873), invented meat extract through his Extract of Meat Company, and shortly after Oxo was created. The formula was so popular that by 1908 Oxo was able to become an official sponsor of the London Olympics and supplied fortified drinks of Oxo to marathon runners. By 1910 the makers had formulated the iconic OXO ‘cube’, making it more accessible to families around the world, and further increased Oxo’s popularity. During the…
Burial of Air Raid Casualties
The idea seems to have gained currency in some districts where there have, unhappily, been fatal air-raid casualties, that such persons are buried, more or less unceremoniously, in a public grave. That is a wrong impression altogether, and that it should exist at all is very distressing. While it is true that the local authority for the area concerned may take charge of the funeral arrangements and may bury the casualties at the public expense where it seems desirable, the funeral is never, in any sense of the word, a…
Men Wanted Now
The devastation left by the air raids on, and around, London was immense and people were needed to help with the clear up. This advert appeared in the Bromley District Times newspaper on the 18th October 1940 advertising for those who were ‘able-bodied’ and ‘temporarily out-of-work’ to enrol for the job. London air raid debris Clearance Scheme Men Wanted Now Jobs for able-bodied men temporarily out-of-work Enrol now at your local Employment Exchange If you are now unemployed and live in the London area, you are invited to enrol…
Flight-Sergeant Charles Sydney
KILLED IN ACTION Flight-Sergeant C. Sydney. St Mary Cray. Flight-Sergeant Charles Sydney, aged 25 years, third son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Sydney, of Derry Downs, St. Mary Cray, was killed during a combat with the Germans on September 27. When a boy, Flight Sergeant Sydney went to St Mary Cray Council School, and at the age of 11 years won a scholarship which admitted him to Bromley County School, where he stayed until 15 years of age. He was then accepted in the Royal Air Force for training at…