Surrery: WWII Anderson Shelter – Rural Life Living Museum! (29.5.2026)

The fact that thousands of working-class people in London took to the Tube tunnels for safety demonstrates just how few people possessed these shelters. My mother’s family – which lived in Lewisham – did possess one of these “Anderson Shelters” – and it saved their lives when Hitler’s bombers finally came! During September, 1941, Hitler targetted the working-class areas of London with the intention of either wiping-out the working-class (and preventing them joining the British Armed Forces) or scaring them so much that they would not volunteer to fight Hitler. Hitler destroyed large parts of Lewisham – which included my mother’s family home. They had took cover in the shelter and as my grandfather was piling-up the sand-bags around the door – when the bombs fell that destotyed their house and street!

Imperial War Museum: How a WWII British Anderson Shelter Saved the Lives of My Family! (26.10.2023)

There were different types of government-provided air-raid shelters issued during WWII. However, the version depicted here – is very close to that issued to my mother’s family (surnamed ‘Gibson’) who lived in Lewisham, South London. During September, 1940, the Nazi Germany ‘Luftwaffe’ blanket-bombed East London and killed and wound thousands of British people. During the entire 18-months of the ‘Blitz’ – the Luftwaffe inflicted 40,000 casualties in London and 70,000 all across the UK! My family lived in a three-storied house in Fordyce Road – with a generation living on each floor.