Brewery History: 112, pp. 3-9 The full sory in thel8nk A drawing of Windsor Terrace, Shoreditch, from that era shows a row of Georgian houses. This is how Dickens would have known the Terrace when he published David Copperfield in 1850. In an age when refurbishment was unheard of those houses never altered. From Dickens day they remained untouched, brick upon brick, and were homes to generations of Londoners. In fact right up to the grim events of the Blitz in World War II. The Blitz began late summer 1940. By early autumn the ferocity of night bombing increased and so Londoners nightlife fell into a regime of survival. After an evening meal they dressed in warm clothing, took to the air raid shelter for the night - wherever that might be - with a blanket and perhaps a few treasured possessions. In this manner, on the evening of Tuesday 10th September the Pages left their home at 26 Windsor Terrace, for the first time ever, to take refuge in a public air raid shelter: the basement of Wenlock Brewery. The brewery, just at the bottom of the terrace, fronted Micawber Street, a thoroughfare that had acquired that evocative name in the 1930's to commemorate the character created by Charles Dickens. The family consisted of Widow Emma Page, her two daughters Emma Wain and Grace Goudge, both widows of what had been called The Great War. Then came Emma's three adult grandchildren Janette Goudge, Violet Page, and Ted Simmonds. They were just another group seeking sanctuary on that wartime evening. When the 84-year-old Emma Page, flanked by her family, walked slowly along the blacked-out Windsor Terrace she could not have known that for her it would be a one way journey. Destiny decreed that Em would never return to the old house where she had watched her children and grandchildren grow into adults. The brewery basement, a well-used working area by day, became a communal air raid shelter by night. On that evening several hundred locals sat on benches or lay on make shift beds. In dull lighting a few attempted to read by pocket torches. Some child evacuees had returned to London during the period known as the Phoney War. This is why a few small bodies could be seen bedded down with their families. In this sombre atmosphere Emma Page and her two daughters were found bench seats. The much younger Violet and Janette were nearby seated on the floor. On the far side of the basement, beyond a refrigeration unit, a group of men, including Ted, were in a separate room playing a hand of cards. That part of the basement was considered to be a high risk area. An air raid took place that night and continued until the early hours of the morning. In the brewery shelter they could hear the nerve wracking screech of bombs whistling through the sky; feel the sickening crump of an explosion and in nervous tension wait for the next cascade of death. Fearfully the hours dragged on into another day. Just after 4am, 11th September, a series of explosions shook the brewery. The adjacent Wenlock Road School and surrounding houses had been bombed. Debris from those buildings fell into the road and smothered brewery basement doors trapping the occupants inside. Meanwhile, bomb damage in the brewery sent masonry falling on to the refrigeration plant, and caused it to leak ammonia gas throughout the basement via the ventilation system. Some of the debris blocked an internal door, the only way in and out of the room where the card school sat. This disaster resulted in Warden's Post L phoning dramatic messages to local ARP Emergency Services. One hand written report reads, "Proceed to Wenlock Brewery, Wenlock Road. Ammonia plant Exploded". Another reads "Send police to control crowds toWenlock Brewery". Each air raid incident was logged, dated, timed and numbered. All reports referring to Wenlock Brewery quote "Serial No of Occurrence 10", indicating that local Emergency Services were coping with nine previous occurrences in the area. All had taken place since midnight. Carbon copies of those rough hand-written messages were in Hackney Library Archive. With that explosion the card playing men in that room - including Ted Simmonds - were in darkness. Their lights had failed. Pocket torches flashed and combined with flickering match lights the group partly illuminated their desperate situation. They discovered the jammed door and that they were unable to get out. Then came an insidious. seepage of ammonia gas. Men began choking violently from a build-up of acrid fumes whilst their burning eyes streamed with tears. All realised they would die by asphyxiation unless they got out. Among the group were several brewery workers who indicated their one escape rout. A voice shouted "up through the street lights". These were small glass gratings set in the pavement above to let in natural light. After an urgent but brief council, men clambered up, checked the gratings and found one slightly loose. As there were no tools they decided on rapid team action. Using a combination of intelligence and brute strength the biggest men positioned themselves under the gratings and close to the wall whilst bending their bodies like rugby players in a scrum. Others of less weight climbed on their backs and adopted the same posture. And so they formed a human pyramid with a lightweight Ted Simmonds at the peak, his back firmly pressed against the underside of the grating. Coughing and fighting for breath they heaved together for their very lives were at stake. Mercifully the grating gave way. Years later Ted described how he popped up in the street like a jack-in-the-box and scrambled on to the pavement. With group assistance others followed but the last man had great difficulty in escaping for no one was left in the basement to help him out. All were dazed but breathing sweet fresh air. Later Ted and his companions went to the First Aid Centre for medication to relieve the effects of ammonia gas. As those explosions at 4am shook the brewery terror began for the many people already cringing in fear in the main shelter. Falling masonry brought thick dust. That dusty air rapidly became more polluted with a white vapour. With their lights still miraculously working the victim could see their plight. Eyes streaming choking and gasping for breath they rushed for the external doors and found them jammed tight. Some people, badly affected by the ammonia gas collapsed, in the rush they were trampled under foot. In the midst of it all a frightened shout "it's a German gas attack" caused even more panic among the trapped people. Violet, one of the few with a gas mask, slipped it over her head. Because of her spectacles Janette found it difficult to wear a gas mask and seldom carried it. She dipped her handkerchief in a fire bucket and placed the wet cloth over her mouth and nose for protection. Janette vividly recalls a bizarre scene: to calm the fearsome confusion, a lone man bravely climbed on a barrel and used precious breath to croak a verse from the wartime song, "Roll out the Barrel".
