CARRYING ON

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 121, 25 June 1941, Page 2

CARRYING ON

SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE A LETTER FROM', ENGLAND "Well, the war is going as strong as ever and we have been most fortunate. One Sunday in October, 10 o'clock in the morning bombers were Hying about and dropped three bombs, one .just outsfide our back fence, another in tins middle of a garden three doors away and a third a little further oiT. All over in a few seconds. The tiles on the: roof were cracked and broken, and window panes smashed, etc., reads a letter received in Coromandeil by Mrs J. H. Lucas from her uncle in Eng.* land. "The bomb holes were 28 feet across and 8 feet deep and all the houses and gardens for some distance were covered with a layer of one to two inches of soil, gravel and stones out of the bomb holes, the same all through the house. It was the stones that broke the tiles. Fruit trees, vegetables and lawns Avere smothered. "Well, Ave got cleared up, thankful that none of us Avas hurt, and then again on November 28 Ave Avere sitting round the fire reading, about 9 o'clock in the evening, when a bomb Avent off in thei garden of a house just across the road from us. Not half the size of the hole by the previous bomb but my Avord it did far Avorse damage. "The first lot of damage* Avas all fit the back of the house but this time the damage Avas all in front. There Avas a cirash and it felt like the crack of doom. Eilectr'c lights were> all cut and avc were in darklies?.. Most of the A\'indoAV panes in front Avere smashed, a gale of Avind blowing through the house, front door and back door and garage door smashed and on the floor, the ceiling plaster clown on the: floor in room upstairs all over the furniture and carpets, locks and bolts on doors smashed. We could seio daylight through the roof and Avhat a mess everywhere upstairs and doAvn. "The Borough Council soon had a gang of men on to repair the roofs of all the; housesi and Ave got to Avork and fixed things up comfortable doAvnstairs. We sleep in the back room and have shut the other rooms up until after the Avar. "So once more avo are comfortable and thankful we have sustained no bodily harm. Most of the damage "-e have left until after the Avar. Ceilings&< and doors, Ave- have temporary ones. Have only had done what Avas absolutely necessary. Total damage, £150 to £180.