Second World War

A Memory of Uxbridge.

I was staying with my grandmother who lived in Lynch Close and she sent me for a loaf of bread (straight out of the oven) from Ponds Bakery in Windsor Street. As I came out of the shop, the air raid siren went off (very loud) which was at the old Police Station. I ran all the way back to my grandmother's, at the same time eating chunks of the bread which was delicious! (I was reprimanded by my grandmother for picking at the bread but she was glad I made it home quickly during the air raid!). The air raids were usually in the evenings so it was unusual for there to be one in the afternoon. One of my favourite shops was Web's the sweetshop also in Windsor Street. The shop was there for many years until the early 1990s I believe. My aunt worked for the Staniford family for 52 years at the old Cowley Road shop and I used to go there on Saturday afternoons and take down the football results on an old-fashioned telephone for which I was paid five shillings! The air raid shelters were at Laundry Yard but we chose to stay home during an air raid and would dive under the dining room table when the bombs were dropping! We got so used to the air raids that sometimes, we would stand out by the back door (all in the blackout of course) and we could see the Spitfires in the searchlights.  When the roof of the Savoy cinema was hit, the noise was horrendous. We celebrated the end of the war in Europe in 1945 with street parties when I was twelve years old. Even though there was a war on, it seems to me that there was less stress then than there is nowadays and there was a lot of close fellowship and we appreciated everything we had. When I visit Uxbridge now, I miss the old buildings that were demolished to make way for the new.

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