I grew up in Vineyard Street, Colchester, during the war. It was a small street, with great people. I see few of them now.

I was evacuated to Kettering for about 18 months.

When my mother came to bring me home, we came through London during the blitz. I was about nine years old. Hundreds of people were lying in the Underground where they hoped to find safety.

Arriving eventually at North Station, we were greeted by the air raid siren and several search lights grazing the sky.

My mother had prepared the coal shed as a shelter where we then spent the night sitting on a blanket.

When my brother returned a few months later – for some reason he had been evacuated to Burtonon- Trent – we were a family again.

My father was in the Home Guard and we used to laugh when he went off with his tin hat and tin mug for his tea.

I remember coming up from the large air-raid shelter in the middle of Vineyard Street to see nothing but huge fires raging opposite, when Hallingtons and all of St Botolph’s was destroyed – so much fear for a child – but people helped and the community spirit was wonderful, so lacking now in a lot of places.

When I use the car park in the street now, it brings back so many memories of those days, which I’m sure others share.

Doreen Thompson
Willett Road
Colchester