Story: Reverend Philip Ireson, Vicar of Christ Church
The Elliott family, Dad Frank, Mum Edith and daughter Dorothy, cowered in their brick shelter with another family in their yard on Brunswick Road in Pitsmoor on the fateful evening of 12th December 1940. The sound of bombs dropping further away made the ground tremble. The drone of bombers could be clearly heard overhead.
Dorothy Radley, aged 12 at the time, says she “remembers the night as if it was yesterday…
“The shelter was cramped and uncomfortable. The sound of bombs falling and exploding seemed to be getting closer; the noise of the bombs got gradually worse and the ground would shake.
“There was a hoarse shout outside the shelter, it was an ARP warden. ‘Is there anyone in the shelter? Get out, it’s getting too dangerous around here’. So we ran up the street; it was terrifying. It was like daylight with many fires caused by the hundreds of incendiary bombs that had been dropped. As we were running Dad shouted, ‘Get into the entrance!’ We sheltered there. I was wounded in the leg, possibly by some flying shrapnel. Eventually we took shelter in Lopham Street chapel. The basement, newly reinforced, was packed with people chattering nervously.
“We stayed in the basement all night; a medic cleaned my wound and dressed it. We weren’t allowed out until dawn. My father went out first – he was a veteran of the First World War, and had joined the Home Guard as a Sergeant. There were fires all over the place, with ambulances rushing to help the wounded. My school, Burngreave School, had been totally destroyed.
“When we got back to our house we found that only half of it remained. The piano had been blown across the room by the force of a blast from a nearby bomb. Strangely my Christmas tree had survived but without the trimmings! To our amazement our cat, Tiger, was also alive but his paws were all cut. My Mother walked over to Spring Street with him, the dispensary was surprisingly open for people to bring in their injured pets. Sadly Tiger had to be put down.
“A lorry eventually came to take what remained of our furniture and Christmas tree into store. My Aunty walked over from Handsworth to see if we had survived as she had heard that Pitsmoor had been devastated. I went to stay with her whilst my parents stayed with relatives in Sturton Road. Of course the bombers came back on the following Sunday but this time I watched the flashes and fires from the relatively safe distance of Handsworth.”
Pitsmoor was very vulnerable due to its nearness to the Don Valley steel works and during the two nights of the Blitz 90 people were killed and many houses damaged or destroyed along Nottingham Street, Rock Street, Woodside and surrounding streets. Christ Church narrowly avoided being hit but Burngreave Methodist church was destroyed.
A sad record of all those killed can be found along with personal stories on http://www.chrishobbs.com/sheffield/pitsmoorwardead.htm