"I could see the glow in the sky 40 miles away on the night of Sheffield Blitz"

Geoffrey Duke has vivid memories of December 12 1940 – the first night of the Blitz.
Blitz surviver Geoffrey Duke at home in Sheffield as he remembers the night of the Sheffield blitzBlitz surviver Geoffrey Duke at home in Sheffield as he remembers the night of the Sheffield blitz
Blitz surviver Geoffrey Duke at home in Sheffield as he remembers the night of the Sheffield blitz

Mr Duke, 88, was a wartime evacuee, aged eight, at the outbreak of war in September 1939.

He stayed with the family for two and half years, who lived in Edingley village situated between Newark and Mansfield.

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“On the night of the Blitz a ARPW ‘Air Raid Protection Warden’ came and knocked us up in the middle of the night. And we had to go to the Anderson shelter which was in the garden.

"As we got outside we could see this red glow in the sky.

"And the husband who worked at the local pit three miles away said

“It looks as if the pit has been hit and that’s on fire.”

“ When we heard the news the following morning, it was Sheffield that had been hit. I could see the glow in the sky forty miles away.

"At the time communication wasn’t as it is today, we had to wait for the post to hear if my parents were alright. Fortunately they were.”

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Geoffrey also recalled the mother of the family worked in a ball bearing factory in Newark. It was also bombed during the time he was there.

He said: “I remember her coming home in a dreadful state.”

Geoffrey’s parent’s Percy and Dorothy Duke remained in Sheffield and lived on Main Street just off Duke Street as it was then.

Geoffrey’s late wife also called Dorothy was eight-years-old at the time and lived on Staniforth Lane, which no longer exists.

Geoffrey said there were just three houses on the road.

“Dorothy lived with her mom and dad in one, her Grandma and Grandad lived next door and another neighbour lived in the third house. “

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On the night of the Blitz their house received serious bomb damage.

“The bomb dropped just outside the property. The gable end collasped,which meant the homes were no longer habitable and had to be demolished.

“All the ornaments in the house were intact and never moved.”

Fortunately no one was injured as they took refuge in their reinforced cellar, connected by tunnels between them.

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They were trapped for several hours until the air raid wardens came to rescue them.

When Geoffery returned to Sheffield in 1942 he witnessed the devastation caused by the bombing.

He said: “When I came home in 1942, I was taken down to town. When we walked through and I saw all the buildings demolished around C&A all the way up the High Street and down the Moor and they were all in ruins but of course all the debris had been cleared away by that time. The shells of the building were still there.”

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