I'm blessed to have a gran still with me, with a sharp mind, who can remember things going back to the 1930s. She was telling me about an experience she had in 1940 tonight. She had to have an operation to remove some skin cancer from her face as a child, and this meant every February she had to go for an annual checkup at Sheffield Children's Hospital. The war didn't stop that. One of her appointments was the day following a particularly horrendous Luftwaffe raid. She remembers being on a tram in the city centre, going past a row of smouldering remains that used to be department stores. She asked why one area was cordoned off, her mother (my great gran) replying that it used to be a Woolworths and there were many people taking shelter in it when it was hit. Tragically there were bodies inside. It always amazes me what that generation had to go through growing up, and how resilient they proved to be in the face of such atrocities. She also recalls being at Sunday School later in the war in Wombwell, and hearing the distinctive noise of a flying bomb passing overhead. Everyone watched it, hoping the droning noise wouldn't end and it would drop. She thinks she recalls it hit somewhere in Chapeltown. I was just wondering - is anybody here quite old enough to remember the war? I know it's unlikely anyone 85+ will be on here, but perhaps your parents had similar stories?
Old enough to remember the war? JLWBigLil remembers the crusades. That's a great story though, just goes to show that back then people just carried on. The most telling part for me is that checkups for cancer patients carried on not only during the middle of a world war but during a period where the city was being bombed while our weakened NHS and inept government have cancelled cancer checkups and treatment because of covid.
My late Mother in Law told me about being a child in Heeley when the air raids were on. She was once in a cinema when the air raid sirens went off. They were supposed to get to the nearest shelter, but dithered and ended up in a different one on the way home. Her Dad was out looking for her for hours. Only when they were released from the shelter could she get home. She was in big trouble, but obviously they were relieved to see her. Many died that night.
My mam used to tell me of the nights they spent in the Anderson air-raid shelters in their back garden as youngsters. Her mam ( my Grandma cursing the Nazi’s as she feared her hens might not lay their eggs. They could hear the bombings of Sheffield and seeing the night sky often lighting up.
My Gran used to tell a story of her being ‘chased’ up a street by bombers, to this day where the bomb dropped there is still a house missing.
My gran recalled trainloads of children from the cities bring brought to rural Wales away from then bombing. A train would arrive at a country station - the locals knew of the time of arrival and anyone who had room in their home went to the station. Don't think there was any vetting done. A difficult time for the children who were not only uprooted from their families but were also worried what was happening to their parents.. Other grand mother survived being displaced from her Czechoslovakian home during WW2- spending time in Germany before ending up in the UK having lost most of her relatives. When youngsters complained about their 'lives being ruined' following the recent 'A' level fiasco I thought they don't know how lucky they are!
My aunty was telling me about a bomb that dropped really close once, I asked her what happened? her reply, " I dropped my fish n chips"
My dad,who was about 17 at the time and a member of the home guard, told me that he came off nightshift at Darfield Main the morning after the raid to find that there were WVS women with tea and bread and jam waiting for them. They were loaded onto lorries and driven to Sheffield to dig for bodies.
My late father in law worked at Brown Baileys steel works and told me about the night the Luftwaffe bombed the works but thankfully he was working at the other furnace that was hit by a german bomb. He told me the Germans followed the wrong river when heading for the Sheffield industrial area.
I’ve heard that story about V-1s over South Yorkshire but thought it was a myth. They wouldn’t have the range would they? I’ve also heard about an airship in WW1 that people thought was a Zeppelin over Barnsley. Fact or fiction?
The old bookshop Rare and Racy on Devonshire Street in Sheffield used to sell a large print of a bomb map of where the bombs fell in the war in Sheffield. Sadly R&R have closed but I took a photo of that map and still have it. I used to frame it for them that's how I know about it. I'll see if I can find it and will post a copy.
V-1s only had a limited range of about 160 miles so I think that’s a bit of a far fetched old wives tale. The WW1 Zeppelin attacks are true though. http://www.iancastlezeppelin.co.uk/2728-nov-1916-1/4592993057
Except they haven’t cancelled them all I have no idea what you get from spreading lies when you’ve been told numerous times they’re lies. When members of this board have written of their own cancer treatment- you ignore their personal experiences and lie!
Every day virtually I feel thankful to never have experienced war and incredibly saddened that in the 21st century so much of the world does.
My dad told a story, many times, about Barnsley Town Hall being used as a marker point for the Luftwaffe. Because it hadn’t been built long it was still pretty much gleaming white and even in blackouts was conspicuous. The german pilots where told to look for it, when they saw it they were told to veer south and in a few minutes there was Sheffield to unload there bombs on.
