| 1940
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| Jan 9 | Very bad news of Flo, Daisy will 'phone if she gets worse.
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| Jan 10 | She is a little better. I will try to get Jim Bartlett to take us over on Sunday.
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| Jan 14 | The weather is too bad to travel, but Daisy says she is about the same.
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| Jan 16 | Poor Flo has gone to her last rest. I do wish I could have seen her. It is such a long time since I was there.
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| Jan 19 | Jim and Douglas have gone to the funeral, it is a dreadful day.
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| Jan 20 | West Streatham Choral Society Dance, it snowed directly after tea very heavily, the boys persisted that I should go and we had a grand time, 108 attended. I think everybody was glad to get a break for since the black-out everything has seemed dead. Jim and Alan had hard work pushing my chair home.
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| Mar 31 | Daisy LaPlain came for the day, she brought a lot of photos and other small things belonging to Flo. She is one of the kindest folk I have ever met.
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| Apr 6 | The last dance of the season, well attended and the happy crowd from Ramsden numbered 18 including four in khaki.
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| Apr 25 | Eric's birthday. Douglas joins up at Caister.
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| May 6 | Douglas says things might easily be worse, the food very good. At the Baptist Church at Yarmouth he has met the nephew of Mr. Lazell, they gave him a hearty welcome to their home.
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| May 30 | Douglas' vaccination has made him very queer, unable to work, but I think he ought to have gone into hospital.
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| Jun 10 | He has his embarkation leave, 24 hours
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| Jun 12 | Miriam married, Aunt Ada would not go to the wedding.
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| Jul 6 | Walter Rayner married at Bristol. I wonder what ever Ethel will do when they come back to London.
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| Jul 6 | Douglas moves to Barry, Glam. He is working at loading and unloading trucks of tinned food, flour and oil.
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| Aug 15 | 170 German planes down, 34 of ours (17 pilots safe). This was the day that Hitler had declared he would land in Britain.
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| Aug 16 | London's first raid, Croydon badly knocked about, a scent factory burnt out, over 100 deaths.
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| Aug 17 | Doug's letter says he hopes for leave next week.
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| Aug 23 | Douglas gets his 7 days leave. Eric home same weekend. They meet for the first time since April 6.
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| Aug 27 | Six hour night raid starting at 9 o'clock and lasting until 3 a.m. W.Watkins shared our cupboard and eight choir members were in the shelter in Welham Road all night. Eric has started at the Avon Works today.
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| Sep 1 | Old Age Pension increased to 19/- per week. Aunt Ada very pleased.
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| Sep 2 | It seems as though we shall have to spend every night in our cupboard. The docks are being badly bombed.
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| Sep 8 | Eric's letter to say he is ever so busy walking about the Works watching other men do their jobs.
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| Sep 9 | Sirens go at 8 p.m. - all-clear at 5 a.m. Six houses down in Endlesham Road, also some at Hydethorpe and Marius Roads.
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| Sep 10 | It does not give one much chance to go far, there were six warnings today and the warning tonight lasted from 8.30 p.m. to 5.30 a.m. Clairview Road, 3 houses down and 4 more had to be evacuated, several killed. Also Longstone and Moyser Roads and Streatham Vale.
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| Sep 11 | Endlesham Road and all along the roads out of Streatham Road. In Church lane a water main burst and filled the sports ground on Tooting Bec with water. It is like a giant swimming bath.
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| Sep 12 | Part of shell through the roof of 79. Fred (Ransom) has started as manager at Luton and Brands this week, only one customer this week, a man who had lost everything in a raid.
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| Sep 13 | Go to bed at 6, awake again at 7.40 for an hour, next raid at 9 until 2 o'clock and again at 4.30. The night visit started just as the news came through at 9.
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| Sep 14 | Jim came in feeling very sick at the sights he had witnessed. He says Battersea seems to have had a bad banging.
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| Sep 15 | Mr. & Mrs. Kirkbright and Dorris arrive at 10 a.m. They have had to leave the house, first because of a delayed action bomb and afterward another one knocking the house behind theirs down. We were ever so pleased to be able to accommodate them and hope they will be comfortable. Tonight has been horrible, the Welham Church hall is down, two bombs in gardens at the back, two houses down in Grayswood Street and another lot in Southcroft Road.
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| Sep 16 | Mrs. K and Dorris look awfully ill and dread the night so we have decided to go to a shelter at Streatham Station.
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| Sep 17 | The shelter was a great success, about 70 people and we were unable to hear much of the planes and guns. Of course, nobody slept much for we had not taken many things with us, tomorrow we must bring a pillow and something for each to lie on.
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| Sep 18 | A lone raider came over about 8.45 this morning, he dropped bombs in several places, an enormous one must have dropped in Conyers Road, there were 4 people killed, one a child of five blown with his cot through the window.
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| Sep 19 | What a game travelling is, half the trams are off the road and several of the main line stations are closed. For Kings Cross passengers are turned out at Willesden and what a game it is to cross to Streatham. It took our next door neighbour two hours and a half.
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| Sep 20 | Walter Rayner's house was levelled to the ground, not a thing was saved, but thank goodness Ethel was in the shelter two doors away, poor girl, there has been a good deal of talk about who should have the house now that Walter has got married, and now that is settled, but I do hope Walter will see that Ethel is getting her share when the damage is paid for.
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| Sep 21 | We had a nasty fright in the shelter tonight, we heard several bombs come with a crash and felt sure we were getting one but they fell in Conyers Road again, there is an enormous crater and quite a dozen houses are uninhabitable.
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| Sep 22 | Raids all day long, there is no rest from them and we do not dare to go for a walk or shopping as I cannot get into an ordinary shelter, we always start off on our daily trek to Streatham, directly the all-clear goes.
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| Sep 24 | Poor Daisy LaPlain has been bombed out, a landmine dropped in their road bringing down quite six or eight houses and damaging almost all the others. She is living in a furnished room at her brothers but she and Bessie go back to their Anderson shelter each night among the ruins as she feels unable to stay in an ordinary house.
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| Sep 26 | At the corner of Freshwater Road opposite St. Pauls two houses are down, a woman used a torch and the plane came back and dropped another bomb.
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| Oct 3 | A horrible afternoon, Jim had gone with the necessary goods to the shelter when the guns started. Mr. & Mrs. Kirkbright thought our last hour had come. 3 houses in Nimrod Road, 3 in Pendle Road, 4 in Welham Road then on to Southcroft and Streatham Roads, about 4 deaths, one through gas in a cellar and several badly injured.
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| Oct 4 | Ambleside and Babington Roads have had a visit tonight. In Ambleside the bomb fell in the road and took the front clean out of one house leaving things intact inside the rooms.
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| Oct 5 | Mr. K and Jim both feeling too sick to eat, the sights on their rounds have been awful. Jim was unable to trace 27 of his members. Whole streets are down at Elephant and Battersea. Some of the escapes from harm have been wonderful.
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| Oct 6 | Sunday again and dare not go out for raids have been on all day.
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| Oct 8 | One of the folk at the shelter, Mrs. Weller, has been most kind, she brought a large bag full of potatoes and parsnips and onions from the garden for Mrs. Kirkbright because they are away from their home. Onions are 1/- lb. in the shops, the Breton onion boys have not paid the usual visit this year.
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| Oct 9 | Mrs. K has been to their house, it is in a fearful state, having rained last night, one bed is, saturated as the window frames and chimney piece hold it down on the bedstead.
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| Oct 10 | There has been a time-bomb in Tyneham Road for a week and today they have exploded it. All the folk from Queens Road and all surrounding districts were sent from their homes for an hour. Although two loads of sand were emptied down on it six shops were completely demolished.
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| Oct 11 | Being a lovely day and no raiding planes around during the morning Mrs. K and Dorris have gone to the cemetery to Florrie Clements grave. There was an enormous crater there but they did not try to find if the graves had been touched.
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| Oct 13 | An awful landmine in York Road near the Wandsworth Gas Works, there was plenty of mess made but the Gas Works were not affected. I see in the paper our butter ration is to be cut to two ounces per person tomorrow. There is great trouble in the camp about it but not so much as when the tea was cut to that amount.
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| Oct 14 | A bomb was dropped outside Woolworths at Balham which caused the bursting of sewer, gas and water mains which flooded the Underground Tube. A number of deaths through drowning among the 600 people taking shelter.
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| Oct 15 | Incendiary bombs everywhere, one on the slope outside the shelter and another in the garage at the side which started to spoil several cars. The policeman told me the station was full of them, they had 17 just round by Streatham Station and there were at least a dozen in Southcroft Road.
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| Oct 16 | What a mess glass can make, on our return this morning every window near Thrale Road had been blown out when the fish shop on the corner came down. Also the Vale had their share for there is a fearful mess just beyond the railway bridge. Mr. Kirkbright is finishing with collecting today, he does not want to but feels that he cannot carry on through the black-out and the winter because of his sight. They are going to go up North as soon as possible for a change, so Dorris will leave her job at the end of the week.
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| Oct 17 | My, goodness, what a night, we thought our last hour had come about 9.30 the shelter rocked and everyone leapt to their feet, a bomb had dropped in the road outside Streatham Hall fetching the front out of the large house next door and making another six uninhabitable. From there they went on and dropped one on a garage killing a baby in a car, then on to the Fire Station and the adjoining two houses killing 18 firemen and a man who was passing. From there they went further up Mitcham Lane opposite the Methodist Church, Abbotswood and Nimrod Roads.
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| Oct 18 | Another shock tonight, the Rose and Crown, next door to the Home for Incurables, had two bombs straight through killing 71 people, it was club night and a darts match was in progress.
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| Oct 19 | This afternoon a time bomb was exploded on Tooting Bec Common, it had been there a week making traffic very awkward, Mitcham Lane has been the way round for motors to Tooting and Mitcham and it has been one stream all day long. At night they visited Garrett Lane and Rustic Avenue and left havoc everywhere. It was our noisiest night with the guns, there must be some enormous new ones about for they make one jump every time they speak.
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| Oct 20 | Sunday again and the sun shining, but what a game to get a bath. Dorris had hers before breakfast and the other two directly afterward although Mr. K. had to finish after the raid warning. After that I had three tries, the water getting cold twice and then the third time I had to make a dash for the warning went almost as soon as I had started.
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| Oct 23 | Mrs. K, and Dorris have been to their house each day as the men are there making it watertight. I expect they will be off up North as soon as it is done. Jerry has paid another visit quite close to them and Lavender Hill is as quiet as a side street.
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| Oct 26 | There have been eight raids today, no sooner all-clear than another siren. We hear there has been an awful lot of damage done in the West End and Victoria.
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| Oct 28 | Mr. & Mrs. Kirkbright and Dorris have gone to Leeds for an indefinite period. I hope the change will do their nerves good, thank goodness they have gone before this nights shock. 3 houses knocked down in Stanhope Road and when we left the shelter at 7 o'clock it was hard work for Jim to push my chair through and over the glass from every shop window along the main road, there is not a window or door in Hopton Road which is the other side of the railway.
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| Oct 30 | We had quite a pleasant evening, Mr. Jordan brought his violin and everybody joined in the old choruses. A letter arrived from Dorris she says everybody made a fuss when they arrived at Mrs. Hodgson's also that lying on a soft bed makes their shoulders ache after six weeks on wooden benches.
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| Oct 31 | The weather was awful, half a gale with plenty of rain so we stayed at home. We had quite a nice sleep until 3.15 a.m. but from then onward the guns and Jerries kept us busy in and out of the cupboard. We certainly hear too plainly for comfort and prefer the shelter at night.
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| Nov 1 | The sun shone brilliantly after the gale so I had an outing to the shops at Streatham, the first time for five weeks. There is certainly not much to see or every window has gone and therefore the shops are all boarded up. St. Leonard's Church is an awful mess and cannot be used. In the afternoon the planes were making patterns in the sky as they chased the Jerries.
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| Nov 2 | Eric arrived for the weekend, he looks ever so well and seems quite happy at his work. We had another concert, this time with violin, accordion and drums. A bad night for the Jerries it is raining and misty, the all-clear went at midnight but a warning at 6 a.m.
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| Nov 3 | No raid, the first clear night since Sept 7 - 56 nights.
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| Nov 4 | We have paid for our quiet night, 17 bombs quite near, 5 on the common, 1 on the doorstep of the Headquarters of South London Auxiliary Fire Service where about 250 people are billeted but no one was hurt, also one in the main road outside Immanuel Church which has stopped all traffic.
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| Nov 5 | Poor old Tooting tonight, from the Congregational Church to the Broadway is an awful mess. 10 bombs were dropped, a number of deaths, 4 at an Undertakers. It was horrid to see the coffins blown from the shop into the road mixed with boots, sweets and other things from shop windows.
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| Nov 6 | Cavendish Road School again, it has already been hit and partly demolished by fire and tonight it has been finished. The A.F.S. used the remaining part and they suffered many casualties. 13 killed and many injured.
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| Nov 8 | We seemed to be quite quiet near us but Jim found on his round that Jerry had again been very busy at Loughborough Junction, Stockwell and South Lambeth.
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| Nov 9 | Another concert in the shelter with a guitar added. All very good but I should certainly like to cut out the drums. A solo from "Crackers" and step dancing by a little girl, also several other solos.
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| Nov 10 | No service tonight, Rev. Maddon away from London. Some more music which finished at 10 o'clock - the all-clear at 10.30, before that Maxwells, the Undertaker, wrecked.
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| Nov 11 | A real warm day, certainly Jerry had something to pay us for, the R.A.F. having bombed the Beer Garden where Hitler was speaking also it was Armistice Day, 12 German bombers and 13 Italians were brought down. I guess the Italians had more than they bargained for. Mr. Chamberlain died on Saturday, he must have been a very disappointed man.
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| Nov 12 | Not such a quiet night. Streatham again, no trams this side of Streatham Hill Station.
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| Nov 13 | Everybody pleased with the smashing of Italy's battleships in harbour. Mr. Churchill delighted to give the news. No planes at all, all night, awful weather. In his letter today Doug tells me his asthma has been bad for a fortnight. I do hope he does not get worse but the weather is just horrible. Hard work wont hurt him but catching cold will kill him.
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| Nov 15 | Ethel Rayner has come today to live at 79. I sincerely hope she will be happy, she is looking far from well. Alan has 'phoned to say he starts his 7 days leave on Monday next.
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| Nov 16 | To our surprise bunks have arrived at the shelter, they look very clumsy but I should think they are comfortable.
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| Nov 18 | Such dreadful news today, Miss Kelly has gassed herself, the raids had tried her sorely and in the note she left she said she could not carry on for wherever she went the planes followed her. Jim has come in very sick at heart today. He says he begins to dread going Wandsworth way, there has been another trail of destruction and a young woman he knew well has been killed and her husband gone out of his mind with shock. Alan's leave has been cancelled as he had to be a witness at a Court Martial.
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| Nov 20 | Fred is trying to start the choirs again, the London County Council have given permission for classes in the afternoon and Sundays. 6 men turned up last Sunday and 9 ladies on Wednesday. Although there is such a call for money everywhere Ramsden Road (Baptist Church) effort brought in £85 in gifts and Sale of Work. Doug is better and is now at Slebech Castle, Pembs. Harold Thomas was spending his weekend at home so offered to take me to church. How the congregation has dwindled in numbers, there were only 5 in the choir, 1 man.
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| Nov 23 | This has been a much quieter week, partly because the weather has been very dull. We go to the shelter each night without fail and really enjoy the company which is certainly mixed.
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| Nov 29 | It is just a month since Greece has been drawn into the war, they are steadily gaining ground, how I do hope they can keep it going. Poor old Doug queer again, he has been given medicine and no work. He is plucky but I think he is a bit fed up. The weather has been clearer although the nights are dark so there has been more noise the early part of each night and bombs have been dropped at Streatham (Tierney Road) and Croydon (Town Hall) and several other places, several killed.
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| Nov 30 | What a night, 32 bombs in a very small area, Riggindale, Conyers, Babington Roads, 4 on the common killing two soldiers and injuring 4 others, at ? several people hurt, 1 in hospital also an old lady killed close there, just a trail of destruction everywhere.
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| Dec 1 | Doug in hospital again, he says he is real bad, he cannot see how he can constantly go on like he is. Perhaps it is having so many trees near, the country round Haverfordwest is just grand but quite unsuitable for asthma.
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| Dec 2 | Another argument at the shelter about the bunks and other things, a committee formed to agree with what is wanted and needful. They have asked for an electric fan to remove bad air, a washbasin, an extra pickaxe, spade and lamp. Also we understand there is to be tubular heating and the lavatories to be put on the main drains. A canteen was offered but was refused. We now have 81 bunks instead of 144, the men pulled them to pieces and re-arranged them to suit themselves.
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| Dec 5 | A nurse has been installed to sleep at the shelter each night, and an M.0. comes round each night and appears to be very pleasant.
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| Dec 7 | I had a surprise this morning when a telegram arrived to say Douglas was coming home on sick leave. He left camp at 8 o'clock and arrived home about 6 p.m. He is certainly brown from outdoor life but sounds decidedly wheezy. He suggested that we might like to go to the shelter and he would come with us. We had our first completely quiet night since August when the raids started. Poor old Doug had to get up early and go home, the air was too stuffy.
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| Dec 8 | I would not go to church as I thought it would be too much effort for Doug to push my chair. We promised to stay home for the night but he did not come in until 10 o'clock as the warning started at 5.30 and there was little rest after. Incendiary bombs were dropped everywhere and the raid lasted 14 hours. One landmine caught in the signals at London Bridge and the police had to clear the surrounding shelters of people in case it should go off. Mrs Murray's sister could not get home from there until 9 o'clock Monday morning.
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| Dec 10 | Douglas very queer, the Doctor has seen him and told him to go home to bed and stop there. He will come on Thursday. What a performance, he had to go to the Police station to try and trace a Military doctor but they could give him no information so Dr. Wilkinson has attended him and he has had to send Particulars to his C.O. It has been a quiet night again, we spent 6 hours in our own bed but did not properly undress.
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| Dec 11 | The noise has been a very long way off but going all night. We have now heard that Birmingham has had most of the punishment. Excitement is high - our Army started operations against the Italians on Tuesday in Egypt and today we hear they have captured Sidi Barani and 4,000 prisoners.
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| Dec 18 | Somewhere near this date Coventry was raided, hundreds homeless and Killed and the centre of the city ruined.
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| Dec 20 | Liverpool's worst raid, we know it is a port but it must be in a bad way by this time, it has had many visits from Jerry.
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| Dec 21 | Douglas returns to Haverfordwest, poor chap he is a long way from well.
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| Dec 23 | The cities outside London are certainly getting their share lately. Tonight it was Manchester's turn again, this is the third night in succession.
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| Dec 25 | Christmas Day, the first time the bays have been away from home. Eric is only getting a half day on the 24th and Christmas Day so he hopes to come up for a weekend soon. We have had a pleasant time. Just Grace and Fred and ourselves and we finished the day by staying home from the shelter. I thought Christmas cards would be scarce but we have received 36, it is very nice to be remembered.
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| Dec 26 | Just us four again, the wireless was very entertaining so by adding a few games passed a happy time. Jerry has evidently thought kindly about Christmas so we spent the night in our own bed and took off all our clothes, the first time since early in August.
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| Dec 28 | Douglas writes that he is in hospital again but not very bad. The news of the Greeks pushing onward is astonishing everybody.
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| Dec 29 | Sunday again and again a real bad time, the Germans have nearly burnt the city down. Thousands of incendiary bombs dropped, one could tell the time by the light of the burning buildings, even at Streatham. 7 old churches, the Guildhall, Paternoster Row and all the shops in St. Paul's Churchyard gone. The raid suddenly stopped - it seemed as though God intervened with bad weather as he did at the time of the Spanish Armada. One nasty lot came our way, Longstone, Chillerton and Crowborough Roads are awful, there are about 30 houses either down or will have to come down. It seems as though they try for the College and then go on to the Asylum.
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