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Bombing of Hockley and Ladywood WW11

DJRVST

master brummie
There is a story in our family concerning WW11 and the bombing of Hockley and Ladywood areas. Usually under the heading of "The night of the Big Raid". A few questions if anyone can help.
Was Ellen Road School destroyed by a landmine killing all those in the shelter?
Was there a memorial tablet on the site?
Any records of a landmine falling upon the Conservative Club in Lodge Road (about 30 yards down from the junction of All Saints Road). It did not go off.My mother,father and brother were in a shelter opposite-I believe in Hockley Bus Depot in Whitmore Street? It is my brothers earliest recollection of that night and of the shrapnel falling down, and the blast shock wave as he and my mother left home (near the Flat) and it would have been before he was old enough to attend school so he was 4 or so.
He believed the targets were likely the Pitsford Street Goods Depot.
To the best of my memory thats the basic information.
 
hi. sorry i dont know much about the bombing of ellen st school but i came across these photos on one of the sites. thought you may be interested to see them wales.
 
Hi wales, I think I posted those images earlier this year, not too sure though, this image is of the front of the school, the damage does not seem to be so severe until you look at the back of the school, I guess the bombers were aiming for Hockley GWR goods depot, as you can see they did cause damage to the depot but missed the Marshalling yards.

My mother was working at the Mint at the time and somewhere I have her recollections of that night, I will see if I can dig it out and perhaps post on here later.
 
hi dibb. great picture. i will copy it if you dont mind. i must say that although i was born well after the war (1953) when i see images like that and i have got quite a few it just gives me more admiration for the people who had to live through it. the sheer guts and determination to carry on regardless never fails to amaze me. wales.
 
Hi Wales and everyone
Wow i lived in Hockley for years and didn,t know it was bombed ..thanks for posting this also thanks for the great pics:)
 
HI MAGGIE.
Yes Our Friends Are Quite True When They Said Hockley And
Ladywood Was Bombed Whe We Was Kids We Used To Go Down And Around Hockley ,And Ladywood Looking For Any German Helmets And A Vairiety Of
Things Even The Gas Masked .s We Went Down The Cellars Of The Old Houses Down Great Tindal St ,Ledsam St Vincent Street Alston St
You Name It We Were There , Momument Rd , Etc,
We Also Used To Get Weighted Window Weights Out Of The Old Sach Window Frames To Get Money For Our Folks ,We Would Get 2/6p , Half Acrown
For A Set Of Four We Would Used A High Pram To Get Them
And Take Them To The Clarkes Scrap Yard In Ledsam St Lady Wood,
Some time If We Got Spotted By A Copper He Would Shout Towards Us
We Would Run Off And Leave The Pram Filled With The Window Bombs We Used To Call Them The Coppers Ethier Came FromKeyon St Or The Old Ladywood C Diversion But We Never Got Caught That Was The Main Thing
Then We Would Scour The Bombed Pecks Looking For Another Pram And Get Around Again Before Old Parker, Of Heath Street Came Around
Or The Malts , These Are The Two Rag And Bone Men Whom Had A Scrap Yard In Heath Street Yards FromEach Other On The Oppersite Sides To Each Other Old ManMalt Had Is Yard Next To The Heath St Winson Green Swimming Baths Nosey Parker Was On The Other Side Of The Rd ,
Have A Nice Day Maggie , I Haven,t For got To Sort Some Pics For You.
Best Wishes Astonian , And Thanks For Your Pm ,
 
Hi Astonian:)
lovely to read your memories of the old end..Also thanks to Wales and Dibb for the pictures..its amazing what you can find out on this site about places you thought you knew ;)
 
HI MAGGIE ,
How Are You Today Hope YouAre Enjoying The Weather , Grand Ain,t It
Maggie ,I Don,nt Know Whether YouHave Been Told Before B
 
Thanks for the help,links and photos so far.
dib44's comments are interesting-I will have a word with my brother again. He has always said to me since I was young that but for the failed landmine I mentioned I we would not be here. My mother recalled the night amongst her life stories (she was over 100 when she passed away). She also said that when "Dockers Paints went up" you could see barrels or tins of paint projected up in the air---she said it was the biggest fire she could remember. She had memories of events in both WW1 andWW11. Thanks to all!!!
 
In the bombing we had a block of houses demolished in Hurlingham Road Kingstanding but I've not been able to find anything about it in the BARRA site. I did find a mention here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/16/a7568616.shtml

I thought all the occupants of the block died but from the link it seems there was a survivor, a five year old child. I know we went to the bombed site the next morning and it was completely flattened, we were told the family were in the Anderson shelter up the garden but that hadn't saved them. E.
 
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