I was aged 14 and was at home with my mother Maria Binks and sister Sheila (17 years) and baby brother Jimmy (18 months). When the sirens went off and mother tried to get us off to the shelter, Sheila wouldn't get up out of bed and said she wouldn't go to Willkinson's shelter, hence none of us went and we stayed in the back yard shelter in Norfolk Street.
Tragic loss of 6 family members...
My Aunt, Martha Hall: MN 70 and her five children, our cousins, John Alfred: MN 22, Sydney: MN 14, James: MN 13, Shirley: MN 53, and Alfred: MN 50 were all killed in Wilkinson's shelter.
Their father, my uncle, John Alfred Hall was at sea with the Royal Navy and never recovered from the shock. He never remarried and never had any more children.
I personally never went into the shelter but my Aunt Martha was in the musical section which is where she always went as there was an accordion player there. Wilkinson's shop where they sold lemonade was on Albion Road. People thought that the shelter would be safe because it had a concrete floor, but I know there was a lot of heavy machinery on the floor above.
photo: 4 of the Hall children: courtesy Mrs Shaw.
The photograph shows from left to right: James, Shirley Anne, Alfred and John. The missing one is Sydney who wouldn't have his photo taken.