War Time In Perivale

A Memory of Perivale.

I was born July 1932 and moved to Perivale new housing estate developed by Percy Bilton in 1935, the name Bilton Road after him. The housing side was built by Taylor Woodrow and to my knowledge the same for Medway Parade. Ref to Alan Grose letter.

I well remember the landmine, we use to play on the bomb site after school. I remember Reggie Eels from Selborne School who lived in the first block of houses in Hodder Drive the Woodhouse Avenue end where I thought the bomb had landed. The photos were in the Ealing Paper which my mother had cut out.

Would it be possible for Alan Grose to email me the photos please?

At nine years, I remember those long nights of bombing. The target was The Hoover Building on the Western Avenue, Perivale, making munitions, and the Peerless furniture manufacturers, making Horsa Gliders. On the golf course opposite was an ACK-ACK gunsite and search light battery. The Hoover building was in camouflage and when the guns went off on a bombing raid it shock the whole of Perivale. On one heavy night of bombing they dropped hundreds of incendiaries, one landed on our roof in George V Way, other houses were hit, turning night into day. Three bombs landed on Horsenden Hill and there was a direct hit on the golf club opposite the Hoover Building, killing some people.

The raids were getting more frequent so they closed down Perivale School and most of us were evacuated to Cornwall. We were there for many months and on returning we started school at Selbourne.

In 1945 I was a paper boy for Youdons, Mr Giddings was the owner, which I think is now Martins. When the war was over I was stopped that morning by many readers to see the headlines. I delivered around Bilton Road, Jubilee Road, Horsenden Lane. and George vV Way where I lived. I left Perivale in 1958 and now live in Australia.

David Ardouin.