Colman Cafe

My mother lived on the Esplanade in the 1940s just about opposite Colman Cafe. She taught in a local school. My father was a policeman in the town, and met my mother there. He related interesting stories of the bombing of the town during the Second World War, such as being knocked off his feet by a nearby blast when on air raid duty. He also told me of climbing on to roofs with a device that looked like a squeezy mop but which had an asbestos "claw" to remove incendiary bombs. On another ocasion he was sent to guard a radio station - for this he was issued with a revolver and 2 rounds of amunition!