WWII: Total recall of Derby’s first bomb 60 years on

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Traumatic events generally impress themselves on the memory, so it’s not surprising that, when the first bomb to be dropped on Derby hit the street where he lived in June 1940, Geoffrey Alcock should recall the occasion – except that, remarkably, he was only 16 months old at the time. Geoffrey, now living in Arizona, USA, recounts those memories.

THE stories about the bombing of Offerton Avenue, in Derby, have prompted me to relate this story which I have told to many people over the years.

During the war, my parents kept me close to them at night so that they could grab me quickly when the sirens sounded. My bed was in their front bedroom.

One night I remember vividly. My mother and father were talking through the open bay window of the bedroom to our neighbours, the Parrys, who likewise were sandwiched in their upstairs window. It was a beautiful sunset and the conversation was, as normal: “Do you think Jerry will be over tonight?”

Often, the German planes would make use of moonlight to penetrate into Britain. The rivers reflected the moonlight and this became a navigational aid for them.

Rolls-Royce was their prime objective in Derby because, if they had crippled that factory, it could have brought the “war machine” to a halt.

That particular night I must have fallen asleep as they talked.

Another memory I have is of my dad holding me in the crook of his right arm as a small crowd gathered in the darkness to watch, at a safe distance, the efforts of men trying to dig out unexploded incendiary bombs that had been dropped in a field just beyond Mrs Delaney’s Elms Avenue house. This was at the top of our street on the opposite side from us, where three houses were accessed via a small drive which was almost an extension of Elms Avenue, Littleover.

(The field would eventually become the site for Wren Park School. In fact, an unexploded bomb was found there when they began to excavate to build the school in the mid-1960s).

Incendiary bombs were dropped prior to the main bombing raids. They were supposed to explode on impact and burn as huge flares to light up the surrounding district.

As the bombers approached they were then able to pick out their targets.

Luckily, this night they did not light up the sky so bomb damage was minimal.

My third memory is of sitting on the lawn watching my dad fit a new pane of glass to replace the one that had been shattered when the door was blown open during the previous night.

The door stayed on its hinges but the lock and a bolt were both torn from the door jamb.

As the Buxtons’ children (as in Buxton the bakers) and I watched, I remember we were sharing a bar of chocolate. Perhaps that is what made the occasion so memorable as chocolate was not available during the war. Where it came from I have no idea.

When I related these memories to my mum and dad after the war, I found out that what I believed were three separate events, in fact all happened within a 15-hour period.

They knew because of my reference to Mrs Delaney who had later died and the timing of the door being blown open.

What I did not remember was that a bomb had actually exploded and sent mounds of soil into the street. It would be around early 1994 (more than 50 years later) that I learned the true significance of that night.

As I thumbed through a book, The Derby Scene, which my son had bought me, I saw a photograph of a pair of houses in Jackson Avenue that had a bomb dropped in their back garden.

That was the first time I ever knew of it. People could keep secrets in those days.

A lady had tried to dash to her air aid shelter but had been injured before she got there. She later died.

It was the “first” Second World War air raid on Derby, on the night of June 24/25, 1940. So you see my earliest memory was at the age of 16 months.

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