AUNT ESTHER GOES TO WAR

Stephen Bourne remembers his beloved aunt who told him about her life in wartime London as she survived the blitz

- Stephen Bourne

When World War Two began in 1939, Aunt Esther's father tried to persuade her to go to mother in British Guiana (now Guyana), but she refused.

"I'm staying put," she said. Esther was a young woman of 26 and had a mind of her own. She had no intention of leaving her friends and neighbours in London. She also had a job she loved.

Esther told me that her father, Joseph Bruce, had come to Britain as a merchant seaman on "a ship and a prayer". After making his home in Fulham, he married and Esther was born at the family's home in Dieppe Street off North End Road in 1912. The Bruce family lived in a tight knit, working-class community and Joseph earned a living as a labourer.

Sadly, Esther's mother died from the flu epidemic of 1918. After leaving school at the age of 14, Esther began working as a seamstress.

When the London blitz started in September 1940, Joseph stayed in the house. Esther said: "He took a chance. A lot of people did. But I went to the public air raid shelter in Eli Street with the neighbours. One night we had to get out of there because one of the bombs hadn't exploded. The air raid warden came in and told us we had to get out and go to another shelter.

"Poor old Mrs Clark was sitting next to me. She said: 'Will you help me, Esther?' I said: 'Of course I will, love.' But it was quite a long way to the other shelter and the Germans were going hell for leather. Bombs were exploding everywhere. The anti-aircraft guns at Earl's Court were blasting. The noise was terrific.

"Mrs Clark was hanging on to me. So we got out of the shelter in Eli Street and went with the neighbours through the air raid and into the one in Hilmer Street. It was packed. As for being scared, I just didn't think about it."