Dear Sir
Have just found your interesting web site .
The photo is of my parents George & Nora Sturrock taken in Northumberland Square.
Reading about my Mother and Father George and Nora Sturrock I note it is said that Sandy&Arthur Frankland were her cousins in fact they were her brothers .
My father also lost a brother who never returned to North Shields Fish Quay after the small fishing boat he was on was torpedoed
My parents were lucky on another occasion when they were in a Cinema in South Shields and decided to leave and go for the North Shields Ferry when they heard the air raid Siren the cinema was bombed during the air raid .
On another occasion they were machine gunned by a German airplane as they were going home down the back lane that was opposite the entrance of The Albion Cinema .
My Father was a Welder which was a reserved occupation and was stationed at Tynemouth firing Anti Aircraft Guns .
I didn,t realise how dificult it must have been to actually hit an airoplane. He used to joke about being awarded with one and a half hits for the whole of the war saying he didn,t understand how he got half a hit .
He used to put weld into the Bullet & shrapnel holes in the large Gas Tanks at Howdon which were full of Gas at the time. They had to dive into a doorway to dodge the bullets .
Regards
George Sturrock
Mrs Nora Sturrock lived in Upper Queen Street. She and her boyfriend George (later husband) were standing in the doorway when the Wilkinson's bomb blast flung them both into the passageway covering them in lime dust. George was one of the first at the scene.
They both knew that their cousins were in Wilkinsons. 'Sandy' Alexander Frankland was killed, Arthur survived although he was buried up to the neck in rubble and Billy was flung clear smoking at the entrance.