A survivor of WWII attacks on London has described how her love for her husband blossomed inside a recently discovered bomb shelter.

Like a storyline from a Hollywood film, Joan Francis, 88, would steal moments away with her future husband, Phillip, during the Second World War, huddled in the shelter in Carshalton Park.

The times spent underground shielded from German bombing raids of London, were the only times the young lovers could spend together during the conflict.

The couple were pulled apart when war broke out, after 17-year-old Mrs Francis was sent away from the East End with her family.

Her then boyfriend Phillip, who she had known since they were children, was sent to Essex to help in the war effort manning anti-aircraft guns.

Only when he could spend a night away, or take a week’s leave from firing at the German bombers, could he visit her.

Their nights were spent with other residents of Carshalton in the shelter avoiding the nightly German attacks.

She described her memories after the discovery of the forgotten shelter in Carshalton Park two weeks ago.

She said: “When I think of it now it was quite romantic. We were just getting to know each other, but we were already in love.

“It was a frightening time, but I look back on it with happy memories because of the times with him.”

They married soon after and stayed together until Phillip’s death, aged 84.

The shelter, believed to have space for up to 1,000 people, was discovered by a council worker in just his second week in the council’s planning department, after a hole appeared in the ground in Carshalton Park.

Other residents have come forward to recall their memories of the shelter, after the discovery.

Mrs Francis remembers playing darts, reading, talking and writing letters.

Audrey Roberts, 85, recalls first heading into the shelter, aged 14, with her mum and dad, while Stanley Procter, 90, said he remembered heading down after the first air raid siren of the war.