Into the World with a Bang!
The Memoir Group are starting to write down their life stories. Linda Lengthorn tells us of her dramatic arrival to life in the East End.
To say that I came into the world with a big bang is an understatement according to my sister.
It is Tuesday 15th June 1943. We are in 11 Dilston Grove, a small two-up two-down terraced house in Bermondsey, London. The air raid siren is heard warning of an imminent German air raid. Everyone goes to the Anderson shelter in the back garden. Apart from my Mum who is in the upstairs bedroom in labour with me, plus her midwife helping the delivery.
My sister Joan aged five refused to go to the shelter and would not budge because she wanted to stay with Mum. She was told to sit on the stairs and not move, which she did. As she sat there a bomb was dropped at the end of the street creating a massive bang.
The windows of our house blew in and then the silence - which was broken by the cries of me being born. So my sister thought that was how all babies were born, a big bang, broken windows, silence and then the crying of a baby. I’m not sure when she actually learnt the truth of a birth, but she used to tell this story many times and we wondered if it was true. But my Uncle John verified it, we did believe her and since she passed away, it is still a story that I now tell to keep the memory alive.
Top left: Linda today; far left: Linda with big sister Joan; left: World War II bomber over Bermondsey