I NOTED Ken Vale's story about the town's bombing raid (Advertiser, December 5).

Being the same age as Ken, I can recall that tragic night.

I lived then at the top of Parsons Road, all houses now gone. We heard a plane coming over, then a loud whistling sound and a terrific bang which shook our windows. My late father said that it was a bomb and it was close.

Next day I found out that the bomb had fallen at the rear of my school pal's house at the top of Ipsley Street (Back Hill) so I played truant and went to see the huge crater it had made.

Most houses in Ipsley Street were damaged but to my knowledge no-one was killed or injured there.

I also visited Oswald Street, Orchard Street, Glover Street and Mount Street where damage was extensive and people were killed and injured, either by other bombs or blast.

That same year, 1940, after the all-clear sounded one night all Parsons Road was lit up. The Britannia Batteries was on fire which took three days to properly extinguish. No-one ever seemed to know the cause, some even blamed the works cat for pawing the electric wire system.

As far as I know people were working there that night. It could have been an incendiary bomb but no reports stated that fact.

Doug E Sly

Batchley Road

Batchley