Bombs on Egerton Road South memories of Geoff Williams

Revisiting a story.

One of the things I really like about the blog is the way people share their memories with me.

So after I had posted the stories about Chorlton’s bomb maps,* Geoff got in touch and offered up his memories of when the bombs fell across his part of Chorlton.

And here it is.

"Here is a brief account of the bomb that landed in the back garden of 118 [formally 40] St Werburghs Rd early in the evening on 23/12/1940. This is the left of the two houses shown in the photograph.  

The explosion destroyed Nos 118 and 120 also the house behind being the first house on Egerton Rd South, and were all 3 soon to be pulled down.  Nos 116 and 122 were made safe, but were uninhabited until they were repaired after the war, along with the others being rebuilt.  

The Churchill government paid for this.

 I, along with my sister and parents lived at No 116 [38]. The reason we were not at home at the time of the raid was due to my family returning home for Christmas from Tideswell in Derbyshire where I lived as an evacuee.  

We drove into the blitz, and had to break the journey as we neared home and take cover until the bombing eased.  We could see the fires over Manchester in the distance.  We arrived home close to midnight to discover our home had been hit, hence sought shelter across the road in a neighbour’s house.

At the outbreak of the war, my Father built an air raid shelter below the ground in the garden of 116, and 118. The bomb landed at the left hand side and to the rear of the shelter. The air raid warning had not long been sounded.  There were at least 4 occupants in the shelter at the time, No 118 and part of the house in Egerton Rd South collapsed onto same.  

Unfortunately, the resident of 118 had just left the shelter, to commence her duty as an air raid warden, when the blast blew her into the road and she bled to death before anyone discovered her.  She was already a widow [not due to the war] and hence her only son [7] was now an orphan.

As you know, close by there is a bridge over what was the main L.M.S. and L.N.E.R railway. 

Looking along the line from the bridge over Metro station, the line [L.M.S.] goes straight on, but to the left it is now a wide foot or cycle path.  T

his was the main L.N.E.R. line.  We were given to understand, sometime later, the German plane was aiming for the line, or the bridge, together with another bridge by Chorlton station.  

Two bombs were dropped; the other one destroyed the Post Office. [ I discovered this when I was sent to post a letter the next day ] Should you visit the new P.O you will notice this is not as high as the buildings either side."   Geoff Williams

Pictures; from the collection of Geoff Williams

* http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%20bomb%20maps