June 28, 2004
Air Raid Shelter
Unfortunately we have been unable to obtain any photographs of the interior of the Shelter at Wilkinson's. It is probable that there are none in existence given wartime wariness of those, other than officials, carrying camera equipment.
Wilkinson's shelter could hold 210 people.
It was divided into 3 rooms: Nos 1, 2 and 3.
From the main King Street entrance, you went down 4 wooden steps and through the doors into No 1 Room. The walls were bare brick and 2 bed high bunks lined each main wall.
No 2 Room was the central section of the shelter where the girls in particular liked a sing-along.
No 3 Room was a smoking area with a rear exit onto George Street.
The floors were concrete. The ceiling was not reinforced: the wooden floors of Wilkinson's factory with its machinery were just above.
The work of erecting the shelters proceeded apace. Private builders under the supervision of the Surveyor erected small shelters in yards,communal shelters in streets and on open spaces. Shelters for the use of travellers in buses or passers-by were palced near the main roads. In front and back gardens, holes were dug and Anderson shelters were placed snugly in them and then covered with earth. Some people beautified their shelters by growing flowers on them.
from: 'Civil Defence': East Modern School, Blaydon 1946
Anderson Shelters
were issued by the Government to householders of small income (annual income less than £250 per year) free of charge. They were named after their inventor, Dr David A. Anderson (and not as is generally thought after Sir John Anderson, the Home Secretary at the time).
The shelter consisted of fourteen pieces of easily-erected steel. A hole in the ground three or four feet deep was dug. The corrugated steel pieces were put together making an arch six feet high, nine feet long and four and a half feet wide. The ends were of corrugated steel as well. When the shelter was sunk into the hole it looked in shape like an Eskimo's snow house. At the back was a panel which could be removed to make an escape hole should the front entrance become blocked. The entrance was very small. The shelter was placed as near the house as possible and with the door facing the house wall. The house gave the shelter protection from blast.
These shelters held four to six people. People would cover the floor with cement or wood and fitted their shelters with cushions, mats and blankets and even stoves. They could not give protection from a direct hit but tests had shown that they were capable of surviving a near miss.
Morrison Shelters
were named after Herbert Morrison who at the time the shelters were invented, was Minister of Home Security.
These shelters were like steel tables and although large could be used as tables. The table surface was of solid steel with four strong steel legs. The sides were covered in with steel wire easily removed when necessary. The bottom of the shelter consisted of wire mesh upon which to lay a mattress. These shelters could bear the weight of house debris and the only risk was if the debris caught fire.
Yard or Garden Shelters
Common to the houses close to Wilkinson's these brick shelters held about four people with the house wall giving protection from blast.
Street Communal Shelters
These were about thirty feet long by six feet high and six feet wide. The solid walls of white bricks were about fourteen inches thick, the ceiling one foot of reinforced concrete. Each shelter was divided into four sections by walls. In the walls were holes connecting the sections. Each section had a wooden door and was furnished with six bunks.