The Bawdeswell Plane Crash The Willows And The Rectory

A Memory of Bawdeswell.

Although I was just a little lad I can remember seeing the smoking debris of All Saints Church after the Mosquito crashed on it.

I was staying in "The Willows" which is opposite the church with my mum, my sisters, my cousins and my aunts, who were all evacuees from London.  It was a miracle that the plane never hit the house.

Next to the Willows was a corrugated iron building and I remember that there were a lot of cars and lorries that seemed to be stored there. I remember how dark it was in The Willows but my mum told me later that it was because there was no electricity, just oil lamps. My mum bless her is still going strong at 96 years of age. Her name is Hannah, her sisters were Nellie and Kate, perhaps somebody in Bawdeswell will remember them. My cousins who stayed in Bawdeswell were Maureen Goddard, Bryan Donaghue, Kathleen Donaghue, Patricia Donaghue and my sisters Sheila and Veronica.

We also spent some time living in "The Rectory". My sister Veronica was born in The Rectory and sadly my nan died there.

When my dad was on leave from the army he used to take my mum for a drink in The Bell public house.

Mainly my childhood memories of Bawdeswell are very happy ones. I have made a couple of visits back there over the years and they have been very nostalgic.