Stephen Snelling

Great to catch up with Nick Stone last night ahead of our event at Norwich Arts Centre on Friday evening. We met at the Whalebone pub at the bottom of St Clement’s Hill. It was an apt spot to meet and talk about our mutual interest in Norwich’s blitz ordeal. Not far from here, the terraces that straddle the hill and straggle out from Magdalen Road were rocked by a series of explosions as a rain of high explosive signalled the start of the Baedeker assault 70 years ago.

With the City Station lit by flares as a marking point, bombs fell thick and fast across the residential streets on both sides of the river. Rosebery Road, Traverse Street and Northcote Road all felt the force of the indiscriminate bombing. Incendiaries added to the terror and the destruction as homes collapsed into burning ruins.

Today, many of those tragic scenes have been recaptured by Nick as part of his haunting Ghost Blitz photographs that seek to marry a ghastly an unfamiliar past with the peaceful present. His own Norwich terrace, an early inspiration for his work, displays a typical juxtaposition of the pre-war and post-war side by side in a jarring attempt to disguise blitz disfigurement. Such scenes are repeated all across the city as Nick’s stunning collection of photographs illustrate all too graphically.

No other  pictures I have ever seen present a more poignant impression of the carnage that was wrought across the city during the spring and summer of 1942. Seeing them never fails to move me. If you haven’t already taken a look at them make sure not to miss Stacia Briggs’ upcoming article in the Evening News. Or better still pop along to the Norwich Arts Centre tomorrow night at 7pm and see them displayed on screen. You’ll also hear the remarkable personal story behind Nick’s blitz odyssey that shows no sign of ending just yet.

For details of the talks check out my events section or visit the Norwich Arts Centre website and book a ticket now.

In response to my appeal for Blitz memories, Ralph Gayton, of Norwich, has sent the following:

The Lockwood Family around 1941 before Margaret was born

“Although I was only rising six at the time the events of that day and night, Monday 27th April, 1942, remain vivid in my memory.

My aunt Hilda (Lockwood) and her three children, Beryl, 11, Jack 7, and Margaret, 3 months, had visited our house at Knowsley Road that afternoon.

It was a lovely warm spring day and we enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon together. Beryl, who had passed the 11 plus, was looking forward to starting at the Blyth School. My cousin Jack and I played together. When they left at about 4.30 Beryl rode her bicycle and my local friend, Malcolm, and I laughed as she wobbled off home to 65 Rosebery Road.

The next morning we learned that Rosebery Road had been hit in the raid the previous night, a night of terror as the bombs seemed to fall without pause. My mother, father and I spent that night, and many others, in our Anderson shelter.

Our worst fears were realised when we learned on the Tuesday morning that No 63 and 65 Rosebery Road had been hit and that my aunt and three cousins had been killed. Cousin Margaret, at three months old, was the youngest victim of the raid. My uncle, my mother’s brother, was an Air Raid Warden and had been on duty at the Warden’s post at the far end of Rosebery Road. He had the terrible experience of discovering the deaths of his family after the raid.

The second raid on the Wednesday renewed the fear and terror of the Monday night and I recall the shivering and teeth chattering I experienced.”

If you have a story of the Norwich Blitz, or of any of the air raids directed against the city, please post it to me via my website – www.stephensnelling.com – or email me at sjsnelling@sky.com…

It’s hard to conjure the words to describe my feelings right now; relief, surprise and sheer exhilaration after a book launch that surpassed all my expectations.

Thanks to all those who attended and made it such an unforgettable experience – family, friends and so many of those who contributed their stories. Norwich: A Shattered City was as much their achievement as it was mine and I can’t thank them enough, not only for entrusting me with their memories but for being so supportive throughout the course of the project.

Thanks also to Mike Butler and everyone at Jarrold’s for staging the event and for showing their commitment to local books. I am so glad that their faith was rewarded in the wonderful turnout.

It just goes to show what interest there is in discovering the history on our doorsteps and I hope the talk I shall be giving in partnership with ‘ghost blitz’ photographer Nick Stone next Friday (7pm) at Norwich Arts Centre will be as well supported.

Just two days to go to the Jarrold launch of my book, Norwich: A Shattered City, and the nerves are beginning to kick in. At least I’ve now received some copies of the book itself. It’s always useful to have seen the book that you’re launching! Anyway, I was both relieved to have the book in my hands, at last, and pleased to see that the many magnificent photographs from the Archant and George Swain Collections have reproduced so well. Just hope the words do justice to the pictures.

I had an interesting session yesterday with Nick Stone, Norwich’s ‘ghost blitz’ photographer, at the Norwich Arts Centre where we were discussing the event we’re jointly involved with on March 16 that will help to launch an exhibition of photographs to mark the 70th anniversary of the Baedeker raids. Having spent so much time emailing one another about our mutual interest it was good to finally meet up with Nick. If you haven’t seen any of his pictures yet, then you don’t know what you’re missing. His images are breathtakingly good. I can’t think of anyone who has done more to make the city’s wartime ordeal more relevant to a modern generation.

Meanwhile, I have been astonished by the number of responses I’ve had about the book already, many of the calls coming from people who have read the edited extracts which have appeared these past two days in the good old EDP. The newspaper where I worked for so long has certainly done me proud, so thanks to Pete Waters, Trevor Heaton and the team for all their support. And thanks also to Derek James for featuring the book across two pages of the Evening News yesterday.

Having had 45 minutes on the Stephen Bumfry Show on Radio Norfolk this afternoon, fielding all manner of blitz and non-blitz questions, including a googly about what dangerous activities I was allowed to get up to as a child (I couldn’t think of any. I obviously led a far too sheltered life), I feel slightly more prepared for what might come my way when I appear on Future Radio tomorrow morning when I should have my very own blitz eyewitness with me for company – my dad!

After that it’s just a case of steeling myself for Thursday night at Jarrold (and, by the way, there’s still time to grab a ticket from Jarrold’s, just check out their website for details). I’ll be trying to hang onto the thought given me yesterday by Mike Butler, the amiable head of the store’s books department, who said: ‘Just remember it’s a celebration of all your hard work and you’ll be with friends.’ And if all else fails, I suppose I could do worse than follow the advice given in that still famous wartime poster campaign: ‘Keep Calm and Carry On!’