On this day 25 Feb 1939 the first of 2.5 million Anderson air raid shelters appeared in Islington,North London. The corrugated iron huts were to protect people from bombs.After the war they were used for other purposes,storing garden tools, keeping chickens ect. Graham.
We had one in the back garden at one of the places we lived during the war. As far as I remember the part where people sat etc was below ground ie excavated earth. I could be wrong. We were lucky where we lived, very few air-raids, even though near vulnerable spots. Wiki: "in winter Anderson shelters installed outside were cold damp holes in the ground and often flooded in wet weather, and so their occupancy factor would be poor."
With the Anderson shelters being Govt property, did any money pass hands in order that people could keep them after the war.? Or did the Govt turn a blind as such.? Graham.
free to people earning under £5 per week cost £7 to people earning over £5 per week Air raid shelter - Wikipedia
I don't know that my parents would have spent very much to keep theirs, however we still had it & used it up until the early 1960s. It was no longer below ground and it didn't have that front facade, but it did have a door secured with a padlock and (I think) concrete infills at both ends. It was really heavy duty corrugated iron, not like some of the flimsy replicas I've seen since. I can still remember putting my tortoise into a cardboard box and leaving it inside our shelter to hibernate. Sadly, that was the last time Tommy saw daylight. #1 son also lives in Kent and has a custom built concrete shelter in an earth bank. It has a sloping 'slit' entrance a bit like the Stanton shelter in the same Wikipedia article referenced above. Unfortunately the entrance is now in his garden, but the body of the shelter is under the neighbours garden. For insurance reasons, it seems likely that this will soon be filled in!
My grandfather refused to have an air raid shelter, probably because his garden was rather small. Instead he had a special reinforced table. They were all supposed to sit beneath it during raids. I never heard if they did. Never seen a picture of one either.
Hi, It might have been a Morrison Shelter. Regards Danny Caption: Mr Herbert Morrison, Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security, commenting in the House on 11th February 1941 on the introduction of the new type of indoor shelter, said that even in London at the height of the "Blitz", 85% of the population were sleeping at home or in small shelters at or near home. The new shelter would mean that its possessors could sleep in their own homes with a considerable degree of added safety. It gave excellent cover against the debris of a two or three-storeyed house. It was specially designed so that the space it took up was not wasted, since it could serve a double purpose - both table and shelter. The sides were detachable and could be removed for table use. The floor was sprung to make a more comfortable base for a mattress. Two adults and one child (or two young children) could sleep in it. It was for erection only on the lowest floor of a house. It was supplied in pieces, and, with the simple instructions supplied, two quite untrained people could put the shelter up in one or two hours. The shelter was 6ft 6in long, 4ft wide, and 2ft 6in high. Morrison ShelterMorrison Shelter