Cellar Air Raid Log
What must be a unique relic and wonderful piece of local wartime history was recently kindly donated and brought along to the Museum by Karen Harwood. Seemingly at first glance to look like a piece of scrap timber, it is in fact a length of old staircase that once led down to a cellar being used as an air raid shelter during the Second World War.
In 1940, an unknown but enterprising individual wrote the date and time of every air raid warning after each time they descended the stairs to seek shelter during The Blitz. The log begins in October 1940 and continues into 1941. There is even mention of the terrifying ‘Doodlebug’ V-1 Flying Bombs that began to arrive in June 1944.
This wonderfully preserved piece of local history was rescued from a home in Bromley, Kent, currently used by the Leonard Cheshire Disability organisation that has been undergoing renovation and was saved from destruction by Mr Donald Laing.
If anyone has a recollection of this air raid log and who might have been the person to have written it, then please do contact the Museum.