The tragedy of Albert Road, Portishead

The family home was bombed on 3 September 1940. Four people on the road were killed. We haven't got any antiques; they were all damaged. In the house were Mum, Dad, my older sister Joan, and myself. I was 6 years old. Mum was by the gate talking to two gentlemen. I was in the shelter and wanted Mum, so my sister went to get her. Mum returned to the shelter and escaped. The two men were killed.

St Peter's School was turned into a medical centre, and we went to Slade Road school part-time. I was shell-shocked, so I was sent to the convent. We didn't live in the house for several years.

Father had been in WWI but was in the ARP doing his job during the bombing. Geoff Crease was a young teenager at the time and watched the bombs being dropped. Afterwards, he wrote a history of every bomb dropped on Portishead.

Mother was a sandbag filler; they would meet in the folk hall car park and fill sandbags (see photo).

As a child, we had to queue for rationing. Once, the local butcher served me two slices of corned beef for meat.

Our brother served in El Alamein, Egypt, and Italy during the war, so he wasn't there when the house was bombed.