Anderson Family Memories

Robin Anderson. Born 9th April 1942 in Tunbridge Wells. Information comes from mother.

"My family were living in a farm cottage on the A21 in Kent in a village called Riverhill - between London and Folkstone - a direct route to France, at the outbreak of war.

1939 - My mother was working at a transport café, feeding the soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk - British and French. At the time the British government were bringing military men down the road to Folkestone and filming them to show reinforcements of the troops. However, the men would return at night and then more men would come back the following day and the same men went back and forth!

1940 - my father's father visited the family following an air raid and our cottage had an orchard. He saw a 'dustbin' hanging in a tree. He poked it with his stick. He was told 'Don't do that - it's a landmine!'

1942 - In the late summer my mother was pregnant with me. She was out feeding the chickens when she heard a plane in the distance. It was a German plane which was burning after being shot at. It shot at her but missed. She ran into the house. The plane crashed in Kent somewhere.

I was born. A taxi was sent to the hospital to send mother and baby home and it was nearly squashed by a Canadian military vehicle.

In 1954 we moved to Bromley in Kent. I met a pupil at new school. His house was located between Hayes and Biggen Hill. His parents had bought a medieval house and moved there. We went into the loft where there was a tail end of a German plane! It had dropped on the roof during the war then was left there when the house was re-roofed.

In 1957 - we moved to Westering in Kent. I had a paper round that included Chartwell - I delivered papers there to Winston Churchill. He had every publication possible - daily, monthly the lot.

My mother's brother-in-law was called Peter Plum - he was in the Royal Army Service Corps. They were sent to Italy. They were billeted in a plum orchard. They ate all the plums and then were out of action for 3 days.

Uncle Bertram Bellingham (mother's brother) was with the Royal Artillery in North Africa. He was left permanently deaf from the huge artillery salvo in Tripoli."