Hoffman Bearings, Chelmsford

Hoffman Bearings was a manufacturer of ball bearings and ball races in Chelmsford, Essex. Because of what they manufactured, the factory became a target for German bombers during the war.

My father, Albert James Avis (Jim), was a travelling setter (setting up machines to produce ball bearings etc. to fine tolerances) and worked the night shift to help with the family finances.

The factory was bombed on several occasions both by the Luftwaffe and by rockets. On one such night, my father was hit with shrapnel. He survived, but on 19 December 1944, a V2 rocket aimed at Hoffmans fell on Henry Road, Chelmsford, which was next to the factory site. Thirty-nine people were killed and 138 injured. My wife, who as a young girl lived in Great Waltham, about six miles from Chelmsford, recalls that many young women would leave their bicycles at the butcher's shop and catch the bus to Hoffmans for the evening shift. After one particularly bad raid, many of those young women didn't return to collect their bicycles. They had been killed with the men.

My son-in-law's mother, Susan Leslie, attended a school in Surrey and was encouraged to write to Japanese children after the war. She wrote a letter and got a reply from Hiriko. They wrote to each other for 70 years! In 1998/9, my daughter and son-in-law were living in Australia and went to Japan and stayed with Hiriko. Hiriko was a school governor and took them to the school. They had photos taken with the head teacher and went to Hiroshima to see where the bomb dropped. The school children made white paper doves. Susan and her husband also visited a few years later.

My uncle Wilfred Burch was in charge of the Home Guard in Chelmsford, Essex. He took his troop on a night exercise in Central Park, Chelmsford, which has a large lake in the centre. Uncle Wilf suffered from night blindness and marched the troop into the lake!