NEXT week sees the anniversary of one of the most terrifying bombing raids on Redditch during the Second World War.

Now 61 years on, an Abbeydale man has given his account of the attack which almost blinded his father.

Kenneth Vale, 73, of Sedgley Close, lived with his parents Harold and Laura, brother Lloyd and 18-month-old sister Pearl at Kathleen Place, a block of five houses in 'old' Redditch, now part of the town centre.

At 7.15pm on December 11, 1940 the first of three bombs exploded.

The Germans were aiming for the Alkaline Battery factory in Lodge Road.

Instead, the attack destroyed eight houses and damaged more than 200 in and around Evesham Street, Glover Street and Orchard Street.

But its human toll was worse, leaving seven dead and 12 seriously injured.

The only record of the raid in the Redditch Indicator at the time was an obituary saying all had died 'suddenly'.

Newspaper reports of bombing raids were forbidden by the Government for security reasons.

Mr Vale and his brother were in bed as his dad came upstairs to say goodnight.

His father was facing a side window when one of the the bombs hit.

The blast completely destroyed one of his father's eyes and he was only able to see from his other eye after extensive surgery in which his iris was moved one-eighth of an inch.

"We never heard the bomb come down. The only thing I remember is a flash of light and the blackout curtain coming towards me," said Mr Vale.

"There was a big wall about 30 or 40ft high separating our houses from a patch of land used for allotments.

"The bomb dropped the other side of the wall so it was the wall that saved us."

He added: "It is amazing what a blast like that can do. There was a packet of 20 Craven A cigarettes on the mantelpiece which we later found in the oven.

"And Mrs Cox, who lived in Isaac Yard, was fattening 40 fowl for Christmas. The bomb dropped smack in the middle of them and we never found so much as a feather."