The Doddlebug

A Memory of Tadworth.

When I was born in 1939 we lived at 97 Shelvers Way, but my very first memory happened in 1944. It was a lovely sunny day and my mother, Doris Parker, was going to feed the chickens at the bottom of the garden. I was playing outside when mother called out to tell me to go inside and into the shelter as there was a "funny" thing in the sky. I never did get to the shelter, only the dining-room and the next thing I remember was a great bang, glass flying everywhere and a crystal fruit bowl on the sideboard exploding. A doddlebug (flying bomb) had landed in the field opposite our house causing quite a lot of damage. Soon a WVS (Women's Voluntary Service) van arrived to help, mainly, I think, by dispensing cups of tea but what I remember most of all is our neighbour, Mrs Everington, giving me a sugar lump, something I'd never even seen before!

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