Here are some recollections of life in Slough during the war and at the time of VE Day, in the words of people who experienced it. These memories are featured on the Slough History Online website, a unique archive where you can explore Slough’s rich past through newspapers, articles, photographs and personal stories.
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A child's wartime in Slough by Nick Hooper
I remember walking to Thomas Gray School with my gas mask over my shoulder. It wasn't unusual to spend hours in the brick air raid shelters that had been built in the playground, attempting to do school work whilst awaiting the 'all-clear' that would allow us to return to our classrooms.
My father had a bomb shelter installed in the garden behind the house, but due to my mother's claustrophobia we only used it for a couple of nights and never again. One night we had an air-raid when three bombs landed, one in the garden of a house just along the street and the others in the road. No one was hurt, but some chickens lost their feathers.
In the spring we would walk to Wexham woods and pluck armloads of bluebells and on Sundays in the summer the whole family would cycle to the Brocas at Eton for a picnic and a dip in the river. I remember VE day and the wonderful celebrations and street party which were held on the green. An extract from Slough – Fond memories by Derek Pomfret
During the war I remember the smoke screen containers on our street, how we collected shrapnel after an air raid and how we hoped that the siren would go off before we left for school because then we stayed home. I attended Elliman Avenue School and recall a German airman parachuting into the allotments behind the school. On VE Day there were bonfires on the street and fathers who had been away for years started to appear. After the war German prisoners were brought in to resurface Elliman Avenue and were camped outside the school for a time.An extract from VE Day 1945 onwards by Jim Bowen
My earliest memory is of the 1945 VE street party on Northern Rd with trestle tables every few yards packed with children being waited on by the adults