NextBackThe Stamp shop had nothing to do with the postal service, it was where aluminium drop forgings were made. Dozens of drop and pneumatic hammers delivering blows of varying tonnage were hammering out pistons, propellers, con rods, wing spars, and undercarriage legs for Spitfires and Hurricanes. Goliath, the largest drop hammer delivering a blow of eighteen tons operated night and day and could be heard pounding away even at a distance of five miles. My fathers' job in the maintenance department of this 'Dantes Inferno was to nurse and repair these machines. In spite of two heavy raids and numerous smaller ones HDA was never hit. However this was no consolation to my mother as she sipped her cocoa by a fluttering candle in the air raid shelter. She had plenty of company in the shelter with auntie Jean, her mother known as 'Cook', next door neighbours Mr and Mrs Merryman and my sister Phyllis and I tucked up in our bunks. After the 'All clear' had sounded she could heave a sigh of relief.
More often than not, the bombers were on their way to targets in the midlands especially Birmingham and Coventry. Fortunately, most of the raids on Redditch could be describe as nuisance value, this of course depended on whether or not you happened to be standing directly under a falling bomb. Small pockets of the town suffered damage during the "Blitz" as it was known, a term borrowed from the Germans. It was also a term borrowed by my father to christen our new found pet, a bombed out kitten who had adopted my father when he was on ARP duty. He had quite a lengthy spell as an Air Raid Warden, struggling to perform his duties whilst on crutches, the result of smashed toes alter an aluminium billet fell on his foot, could this have been industrial sabotage? My father fought his war with a bucket, stirrup pump and a full magazine of Wills woodbine cigarettes to alleviate the boredom. Although he alternated watches with neighbours quite often they came 'back to back' with a fourteen hour shift at the factory which could be quite exhausting. For many months air raid warnings were a nightly occurrence as the Luftwaffe bombers passed overhead on their way to targets in the Midlands, however Redditch could sometimes be the unlucky recipient of aborted raids when bombs were dumped on the way home.
