AIR RAID SHELTER IN ISLEWORTH Bob and Les
RE-CREATING AN
Air Raid Shelter IN ISLEWORTH
Going stir crazy being cooped up? Les McCallum recreates what it would have been like in wartime. Recently a neighbour of mine, Bob Cartwright, was digging in his garden when the spade hit something hard. Bricks? Drains? No, further digging revealed solid concrete. Intrigued he kept at it and to his amazement uncovered a WW2 Air raid shelter. Over the course of the next few weeks he managed to clear all the earth from within, uncovering nothing more exciting than several 1950s lemonade bottles as he went: Corona, R,Whites, Batty’s and one very nice half pint milk bottle.
by the Luftwaffe. What was it like to hear those dreaded sirens, gather your clothes and supplies and rush into the cold dark night and take cover in a freezing shelter? Pulling out some books from the shelf I did some research into WW2 shelters and then made a trip to the Imperial War Museum to glean more information. What would they take with them, what would they store inside, and how did they sleep?
I was invited to have a look inside when it had been cleared and dried out. The steep steps led down to a solid concrete blast wall to protect the family from shrapnel. Behind was a very small chamber. It got me to thinking what it must have been like to spend the night in this concrete refuge.
How would they heat it? The advice was not to take flammable liquids down into the shelter for obvious reasons but a Primus stove and kettle could be found in most shelters for making the essential “cupper tea’. One solution to providing heat was to place a medium sized flowerpot over a candle; this would burn for several hours radiating a low level source of heat and be quite safe. with no toxic fumes.
As someone born in 1945 just before the end of the war, I have no idea of the fear, hardship and discomfort experienced by those who endured five years of bombing
My next task would be to build the bunk beds in this cramped environment and then search for period 1940s props to dress the shelter: old tins, bedding, toys,
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