7:00am Friday 30th July 2010
By Claire Fox
After the Sutton Guardian reported on the discovery of an air raid shelter under Sutton Green, memories of the shelters and wartime Sutton have been pouring in.
One ex-resident of Hallmead Road remembers the shelters being built. She said: “I was seven years old when war broke out and didn't really understand what it was about until we saw German planes fighting over Croydon Airport.
“They started building the shelters soon after that and brought in large slabs of cement and corrugated iron. When the sirens went off each night we would take our pillows and blankets up to the shelter and spend the night there until the all clear went. We then came home and went off to school.
“People all seemed to pull together in those days and although we were afraid it didn't seem so bad. We sat around listening to the bombs dropping, eating our sandwiches, drinking our coffee and having a sing song. We did this for five years and always felt safe. Thank god for those shelters and the men that built them.”
Marion Quilter, 76, was six years old when war broke out. She lived in Bushey Road by Sutton Green.
She said: “I slept there at night for a long time. You took your own bedding and there were benches that you slept on.
“Some Italian prisoners of war lived in a big house at the top of Sutton and they used to come and sit on the green in the afternoon. They weren't allowed to use the shelter though and if an air raid went off they had to stay outside, I used to feel sorry for them.
“Our house was bombed in 1943 or 1944 while my family were in Cheshire. My sister had a flat on the High Street that we all stayed in. There must have been 18 or 19 of us in a three bedroom flat.
“But they were good days. Everyone stood by everyone and helped each other out.”
Bob Last, 77, was six when war started. He lived in Stayton Road near Sutton Green.
Mr Last, now an artist, has drawn a picture of the inside of the shelter. He had lessons in the shelter after Benhilton School was destroyed by a V-1.
He said: “I have drawn the picture from memory but have tried to get the details right.
“I remember them bringing five or six German planes to display on the green. There was a Wellington Bomber and either a Spitfire or a Hurricane. As a young boy I remember climbing up and looking into the cockpit.
“But if the Germans came over on a clear night they could see right to the ground and people worried they would think it was an airfield so they took the planes away quite quickly.”
John Burroughs, 73, still has an air raid shelter in the back garden of his Wrythe Lane home. The brick shelter would have been used by the people in the house if the warning sirens went off while they were at home. An inscription on the side of the shelter indicates it was built in 1941.
Mr Burroughs said: “A lot of people tore the shelters up after the war or used them as sheds or garages.
“We moved into the house 20 years ago. We left [the shelter] because of of its history but also because it's useful – instead of putting stuff under the stairs we put it out there. My wife calls it her garage.”
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