Welcome to our website

At 11.12 pm on Saturday May 3rd 1941 the Air Raid Alert sounded over North Shields. Locals hurried as usual to the air raid shelter beneath Wilkinson's lemonade factory. At midnight, a single bomb from a lone German raider scored a direct hit on the three storey building. Walls, machinery and debris collapsed into the shelter. 107 people, 41 of them children under 16, were killed. It was the worst bombing incident in North East England during World War II.

Robert Westall, the award-winning author of The Machine Gunners, was a North Shields schoolboy at the time. His father was an ARP warden in the town. Westall used his wartime experiences as a backdrop to many of his novels. Westall's War explores the Wilkinson's disaster using quotations from the novels to introduce archival material held by Tyne and Wear Archives Services..

It is now over sixty years since the disaster and many of those whom we originally interviewed for this site have passed on. The story of Wilkinson's is still unfinished. We would like to hear from anyone (survivor, family, friend, local resident) with a connection to the Wilkinson's bombing - we need to hear your stories. This site is a tribute to those who lived through the disaster and a memorial to those who lost their lives.


Photos

bomb site 1
children at the bomb site

bomb site 3
site clearance

bomb site 2
heavy squad clearing the site

bomb site 4
shelter entrance (bottom right)

Comments

I live at Linskill Terrace and whilst renovating my property 2 years ago I found a clear glass bott
• Mrs Julia Reilly:
read entry

Robert Taught me at SJDGS - hopeless as i was at Art. Remember him though as a very real man - made
• Trevor Moss:
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the sites quite good and you can almost imagine being there in Wilkinsons!
• stephany:
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I would of hated to be arond in worldwar2 i would like to know what it was like.Im doing reasearch f
• demi:
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Some people think that the internet is just for fun but as this wonderful site proves, it can be used for so much more.
Newcastle Journal

...a fascinating study that puts the horror of war on a very human scale
BBC Online Best of the Web Guide

This brilliant site...
Imperial War Museum

It is excellent and perfect for use in schools. I am really impressed by the organisation and information offered by the site. Superb.
Andrew Field: schoolhistory.co.uk

Seriously impressed by your website: will enhance my teaching no end...
David Williams: English Co-ordinator, Bothal Middle School

BECTA Guardian Website Awards 2002
Shortlisted Final 10