‘Most are used as sheds these days’
SOUTH Reading residents may be unaware of the significance of their garden furnishings.
According to Whitley Community Museum curator
David Turner, many former Second World War air raid shelters now house people’s gardening tools and lawnmowers.
This week’s Whitley Way Back When photograph features one of many shelters that protected residents during the war, this one was located on Merton Road.
Mr Turner said: “It’s not surprising that during the 1940s, most roads and gardens had a shelter of some kind, which included the privately built ones and council built.
“In today’s world, these shelters are being used for different purposes, from dens to sheds, but we must not forget what these shelters were built for and the distressing stories from families during this war period.”
Shelter designs ranged from concrete, brick and the Anderson style, as seen in the photograph above.
Museum member David Judd recalled stumbling upon the entrance to an underground bunker in Whitley Wood Lane while helping his father dig their vegetable patch in the 1960s.
Another resident, Elizabeth Leach, described using her shelter as a den where she met up with her friends, having kitted it out with a table, sofa and chairs.
Mr Turner shared a more sombre memory of the shelters. He said: “One story will always stay in my mind was told to me by a young local girl, a grandchild to a proud grandad who sadly found life very difficult in the time after the war.
“The family spent many hours in their shelter and had it equipped as living quarters with food etc.
“At the end of the war, this gentleman locked the door, hid the key and never went back inside. To this day, it is a time capsule of local history.
“We must never forget those harrowing times.”
With more than 4,800 followers on Facebook, the Whitley Community Museum is an online and in-person resource.
The group serves as a platform for residents past and present to share memories through photographs and comments.
It also allows group members to reconnect, with members reacquainting themselves with friends and schoolmates from decades ago.
The museum held a Whitley Way Back When event at the Community Cafe on Northumberland Avenue earlier this year to showcase its photographs and exhibits inperson.
■ For more information, search: Whitley Community Museum on www.facebook.com