Streatham residents have recalled the devastation second world war bombing caused in the area following the 70th anniversary of the start of the Blitz.

While Streatham was damaged during the sustained Nazi bombings, which started on September 7, 1940 - and laid waste to many buildings across London - it would be years before the worst devastation was recorded.

Local historian Graham Gower, from the Streatham Society, was in an air raid shelter near Stanthorpe Road as a baby when it was partly destroyed by German bombing in 1943.

According to his mother, who recounted the story to him, the terrifying attack blew open one side of the shelter to within yards of where people were huddled.

He said: “It must have been a frightening time for those residents as they heard the air raid sirens and had to pile into shelters.

“But after a while it became a strange norm for them.”

Keith Holdaway, 78, who was sent from SW16 as an eight your old boy when the Blitz started, spoke of a close encounter with a Messerschmitt bomber when he returned in late 1942.

He said: “I saw it swoop down, it must have been within 20ft and as close to the ground as it could possibly have flown.”

Mr Holdaway said the tram he took to school by Streatham Common each day was caught up in a flying bomb attack that destroyed a college at the top of Norbury Hill.

Mr Gower said it was possible to see, from where newer buildings stand next to railway lines in the area, where Streatham was hit in the 1940-41 Blitz, as the Nazis tried to disrupt train lines throughout the capital.

One blast is known to have caused great devastation in Streatham Vale. But Mr Gower added detailed records of how Streatham was affected during the Blitz have been lost.

Details of bombs that hit other parts of Lambeth - Streatham was part of Wandsworth borough in that period - can be found in the Lambeth archives held in the Minet Library.

Accounts of later bombings are recorded in Streatham’s 41, a book produced by the Streatham Society.

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