70 Stories for 70 Years
In 2010, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire collected stories and memories from those who lived through the night of Thursday, 14 November 1940, otherwise known as the Coventry Blitz. Each individual memory has been saved and has been given to the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum for their archive. You can listen again to those stories, recorded for the 70th anniversary of the Blitz, on this page.
70 Stories: Dennis Adler
Dennis was 15-years-old in 1940 and was a member of St. John Ambulance.
70 Stories: Barbara Alexander
Barbara was 10 years-old at the time of the Coventry Blitz and remembers the devastation.
70 Stories: Harry Anderton
Harry was 17-years-old during the Blitz and he calls doing a job that "broke his heart."
70 Stories: Harvey Antrobus
Harvey was a 15-year-old living between Coventry and Birmingham during the Blitz.
70 Stories: Annie Antrobus
Annie lived in Coleshill and recalls how she was "exhausted" from the raids.
70 Stories: Thomas Barnes
Thomas was 17-years-old during the Blitz and worked at the Armstrong Siddeley factory.
70 Stories: Eileen Bees
Eileen was eight-years-old at the time of the Blitz and remembers sheltering in her house.
70 Stories: Robert Bench
Robert Bench lived in Stoke Heath and was 11-years-old when the war started.
70 Stories: Valerie Bennett
Valerie was three-years-old at the time of the Blitz and remembers sheltering.
70 Stories: Pete Boneham
Pete was eight-years-old at the time of the Blitz and shares his memories of 14 November.
70 Stories: Ann Brooks
Ann was 11-years-old at the time of the Blitz and was doing homework when the raid began.
70 Stories: Beryl Brown
Beryl was 11-years-old at the time of the Blitz and remembers her Dad building a shelter.
70 Stories: Hilda Bruce
Hilda was 25-years-old at the time of the Blitz and remembers sheltering in a corn shed.
70 Stories: Roma Buckley
Roma remembers spending the night of the Coventry Blitz in an Anderson shelter.
70 Stories: Rita Butler (née West)
Rita was the eldest of six children and her father was a fire watcher during the Blitz.
70 Stories: Jo Byrne
Jo lived in Coundon at the time of the Blitz and said they slept under a big oak table.
70 Stories: Gladys Codling & Joan Ince
Gladys and Joan lived in Sherbourne Crescent and recall a landmine landing in the road.
70 Stories: Jean Cole
Jean was 12-years-old and used the underground shelter on Hersal Common.
70 Stories: Gladys Cook
Gladys was 23-years-old and was a newlywed at the time of the Coventry Blitz.
70 Stories: Leonard Crump
Leonard was 17-years-old and worked as a service engineer at the time of the Blitz.
70 Stories: Thomas Cumberlidge
Thomas was 18-years-old at the time of the Blitz and worked at the Standard factory.
70 Stories: Cecilia Decombe
Cecilia was 24-years-old at the time of the Blitz and lived with her parents in Earlsdon.
70 Stories: Len Dacombe
Len was 23-years-old during the Blitz and was a fire-watcher at his place of work.
70 Stories: Winifred Dales
Winifred was 15-years-old during the Blitz and lived at The Rising Sun on Spon Street.
