Bob Dunnett’s Story

Available for over a year

During the Second World War the village pub was a regular haunt for Bob Dunnett and the other children of Little Bealings School just north of Ipswich. Whenever the air raid siren went off they were marched down the road and into the Admiral's Head cellar, sitting on crates of beer and singing Ten Green Bottles until the threat had passed. On VE Day, they were allowed into the pub itself when many of the children, including Bob, had their first taste of beer. Bob remembers getting on his bike during the celebrations and cycling around nearby villages with his friends. VE Day was also the day, finally, that the silk bunting which Bob's mum was saving, was strung up around the house. The bunting still flies, just a few miles away from Little Bealings at the former RAF Martlesham base, now an aviation museum. Image: Bob Dunnett with his dog Pluto, and his friend Keith Steward on VE Day