The Bombing of Thistleberry Avenue 28th November 1940
Thursday 28th November 1940 the German Luftwaffe dropped a bomb on Newcastle under Lyme. The high explosive bomb apparently landed at the back of Keele Road and Thisleberry Avenue causing severe damage to 9 Keele Road, 11 Keele Road, 13 Keele Road and 11 Thistleberry Avenue. A large chunk of sandstone hitting number 11 Thistleberry Avenue.
Thomas and Annie Beech with their family lived at 13 Thistleberry Avenue although the report says 11 Thistleberry Ave.
Annie Beech is known to have suffered a broken leg and went to live in Audley with her daughter Nellie and family for a while, Annie is said to have hated Audley. On reflection it would seem very likely that she hated Audley as she had lost her home in Thistleberry, she was apart from her husband and family, she also had a broken leg and also suffered from some type of agoraphobia. Poor woman !
Douglas Beech reports Harry was in the house asleep at the time of the bombing. Harry went to live with James and Edith, he kept complaining about a headache and Edith removed a huge wooden splinter from his head.
Since my web site has been live I was delighted to recieve an email in March 2014 from a Tim Greenwood on behalf of his mother:- Mildred Gwineth May Greenwood and his Grandmother Gurtrude Annie Rhead. Who both lived at 9 Keele Road and in whose back garden the bomb actually landed.
Tim wrote :-
My grandmother and mother lived at 9 Keele Road and it was in their back garden where the bomb landed, my mum is now 88 but remembers the night well, luckily they were both in the living room when the bomb hit and this was the only room in their house that was left standing and so they got out uninjured.Their house was demolished due to the damage. I have a few documents refering to compensation from the war office for the damage.
Mildred sent me a letter. Many thanks.
Quotes from the letter.
I lay on the settee as I was very tired and desperate for the all clear to sound so that I could go to bed. Suddenly I heard a piercing very insistent whistling sound and knew instinctively that a bomb was falling. I yelled to my mum quick get down mum - a bomb is coming. She threw herself on top of me and although there must have been a terrific bang I have no recollection of hearing it, but I shall never forget hearing the bomb descending. The next thing I remember was a friend of ours, an off duty policeman who lived close by had come to see what had happened and to help. His name was Arthur Rutter and he and his wife Phyllis took us into their home for seven weeks, until we moved into a house that became vacant near to our old home. Our house was deemed to be beyond repair as the foundations were damaged and so it was demolished.A shop in Thistleberry Avenue near to the bomb site had procured two kittens the day before the bomb fell - these were never seen again after the bombing. Our cat a mature Tom survived although he was out that night, but until we had our own home again he clung to the ruins of number nine, fed by relations who lived at number seven. Apparently quite a few houses had there chimneys swept that night by the blast. Remembering that most houses had open coal fires then the soot falls were considerable. Although the picture from the sentinal is blurred she recognised one of the men as William Rhead her uncle and thinks one of the other men is another of her uncles.One detail my mum recalls was that she had a young kitten which would have been in the garden at the time, the kitten was not seen again after that night.
Three war damage compensation documents supplied by Tim Greenwood for damage to number 9 Keele Road.
Click to view
Document one
Document two
Document three
The bomb caused two deaths and two injuries :- see the Casualties of War
document.
Casualties Due To War Operations.
| Name of Casualty | Address Of Casualty | Living or Dead |
|---|---|---|
| Eliza Ann Brown (67) | 11 Keele Road Newcastle | Dead |
| Adela Leighton (52) | 13 Keele Road Newcastle | Dead |
| Marjorie Brown (36) | 11 Keele Road Newcastle | Living |
| Ann Beech | 13 Thistleberry Avenue | Living |
Above Adela Leighton on the record it may read (Cremated).
The Evening Sentinel Saturday 30 November showed two photographs.
Sat Nov 30th 1940 deep crater from a high explosive bomb in a garden of a
midland town during the raid on Thursday night two women were killed.
Information from Tim Greenwood above.
Two of the three men shown in the photograph are the Uncles of
Gurtrude Annie Rhead who's garden the bomb
landed in one man being named as William Rhead.The
two photographs show the depth of the crater and the damage caused by the high
explosive bomb dropped on Keele Road and Thistleberry Ave.
The report was fairly sparse in detail and must have been curtailed due to reporting restrictions of WW2.