Mono Monday :: SPIRIT :: mm53

I have set myself a Mono Month Challenge (MMC). For the whole of February I will only Blip Mono images...


MMC #02 :: Bulldog Spirit

This is a statue of Sir Winston Churchill at Westerham, the nearest village to his home Chartwell. The quote is written on a local pub wall.

This past week has seen the 50th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral. Although not totally revered around the Commonwealth he did provide the Bulldog Spirit that helped see Britain through the darkest years of WW2, none more than the families who endured so much grief and hardship in the East End during the London Blitz.

My family connection:

On Sept 9th 1940 Hitler turned his bombers onto the docks of London. My mum and grandparents lived in Custom House just a couple of streets away from Royal Victoria Dock. My grandfather was working at Tate & Lyle as a driver when the first raids started. He and his mate managed to get out of the factory gates before they were put into lock-down. They started to make their way home.

All the area was being made ready for evacuation. Some of the early incendiaries has already made many homeless and my grandmother was trying to sort out where to go. Many from her street had been told to go to Hallsville Primary School just the other side of Freemasons Road. It was to be a temporary staging post before getting them out.

She kept waiting for news of Alf, my grandfather. It was starting to get late but she didn’t want to go to the school without Alf. Buses started to arrive in the street to help move families out and she picked this option. Just before getting on a bus with my 3 year old mother, Alf arrived covered in dust and blood. Whilst running home a bomb had landed near them blowing them both through a shop window. His friend hadn’t survive.

The bus drove through the night and they were left in Harrow in north-west London. Alf returned to the house a few days later to find it badly damaged.

The choice to take the bus saved the family. On the 10th a bomb hit Hallsville School killing over 600 men, women and children including many of their friends and neighbours. Official records only ever showed 70 killed as fear of the truth may have effected moral.

So my Spirit is that of the people who live through the Blitz and a man who knew he had failings but was able to inspire a Nation to fight on.


Thanks to JoanneInOz for hosting this month’s Mono Monday challenge and for getting through all that!