Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Does anyone remember wartime Welling, Kent?

I am trying to track down the date and details of a V 1 which killed at least two people, and demolished the upper storey of a baker's shop in Central Avenue, near the juction with Bellegrove Road in Welling in 1944. I was there, aged 3, in my pushchair about two thirds of the way along the shops on the left. I remember clearly the damaged dome of the Granada cinema opposite, the wrecked shop building, and a felled signal on the embankment. Two dead men were lying under black cloths on the pavement, and a boy, his arm open from the wrist to the elbow and pouring blood, was sitting crying in the smashed shop window. My grandmother, in the shop, was uninjured.

If anyone remembers anything about this, I would very much like to hear from them. 











3 comments:

Zephyrinus said...

I've just had a look at Central Avenue,
Welling (near the intersection with
Bellegrove Road), on Google Maps.

It was most interesting to see how the road looks, today,
compared with the black and white photo on your Post.

I'm sure you will find it of interest.

in Domino.

Left-footer said...

Zephyrinus - Thank you. I took a look too, and it has changed a lot. I was last there physically in 1960.

Left-footer said...

P.S. I see that the pediment over the shop outside which I was sitting in my pushchair is still there, or rather, has been restored.

God bless!