Never Forget: new book launch brings life to Coventry Blitz
Grace Bullingham at Earlsdon Library.
Remembering Blitz Night, talk at Earlsdon Library, by Grace Bullingham, author, on 14 November 2024.
Review by Annette Kinsella
It’s not every city that can boast having spawned a new word. And a word in a foreign language to boot. But then, Coventry is not just any city. Anyone who lives here – and most people from outside - will know of the Coventry Blitz, the night of November 14 1940 when 500 German Luftwaffe rained hell on the city for 11 hours in a bid to decimate the wartime munitions factories, resulting in more than 500 known casualties but probably more than double that, counting bodies never recovered. Following the raid, a new German word was coined: to koventrate, meaning to raze a city to the ground.
I find it incredibly poignant today to view old footage filmed the day of the raid: trams running for the last time, shoppers in the bustling city centre, unaware of the nightmare awaiting them just hours away. I was privileged to be able to gain a glimpse into the lives of everyday Coventry citizens of 1940 at a commemorative event and book launch, held at Earlsdon Library on November 14.
First up was Coventry resident Chris West, who generously shared the memory of his mother, the remarkable Olga Stew, who survived the Blitz along with mum Alice and dad Bert, by crowding into a neighbour’s shelter at their home in Prince of Wales Road. During a lull in the bombing, Bert poked his head out of the shelter, only to witness the terrible sight of a parachute-borne high explosive drifting down towards the house. Taking cover just in time, they heard and felt the detonation, but when the family emerged in the morning they found their house in smoking ruins. Undeterred, Bert and Alice dug their car out of the collapsed garage and drove 9-year-old Olga to the safety of family in the north, before returning to help the war effort – Alice drove ambulances during subsequent raids. As always, the small details cut the deepest –the sight of the jewellers’ windows in Earlsdon High Street blasted out, diamonds twinkling among the rubble and glass on the pavement left untouched, their value outweighed by the prize of survival.
Another audience member described how her grandparents heard the drone of the approaching bombers as they walked home with their young family through the city centre. On a whim, they decided not to wheel their double pram to the communal centre in Greyfriars Green but to hurry to the home of a nearby family member. It was a split-second choice that would save their lives as the Greyfriars shelter suffered a direct hit, killing the people inside. This touched my heart, as I remember my own dad, ill with pneumonia on November 14 1940, describing the terrifying noise of the planes overhead as he sheltered under the kitchen table with his mum Adelaide, too sick to go to the shelter with the rest of the family. He had celebrated his fifth birthday just three days before.
Next up was 21-year-old Coventry University photography student Grace Bullingham, reading from her new book, The 14th November A-Z. The book carefully lists the names and details of buildings and people lost to the raid. Again, it is the small, poignant details recorded in this fascinating book that reach from the past to touch us. The gold locket and 1924 diary found on Edward Tallis of King George Avenue, killed in an explosion, can be found here, as can the distinctive peacock tattoo emblazoned on the buttocks of on-duty fireman William Jackson, which helped to identify him after he lost his life. William had previously served in the Navy, which could explain his unusual decoration.
The fragments of their lives lovingly recounted show us these people were not numbers or statistics but real people with hopes, dreams, quirks and foibles. More than that, they are our own grandparents and great-grandparents, friends and neighbours. Their lives are intertwined with ours. They are us and we are they.
Attending this event was humbling, a powerful reminder that the stories of Coventry’s victims and survivors are our own. We owe our lives to them. As the Blitz passes out of living memory, events like this and books like The 14th November A-Z preserve the voices of this stoic yet extraordinary generation for years to come, ensuring they won’t be forgotten.
The 14th November A-Z is available from Coventry Cathedral shop, or from Grace’s website, snapperfections.com
Earlsdon Library is a wholly community-run library in urgent need to funds and support to keep running. Contact them at admin@earlsdonlibrary.org to find out what’s on or how to help.
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