As he spoke they could hear the bombs begin to fall in the distance. Suzie looked fearfully in the direction of their home, then at the shelter behind her. She was about to try to break free from her father’s grip and head back to Crooked Lane when another hand gripped her other elbow.

‘Come on now, miss, it’s not safe up here. Best you get inside.’

It was the air raid warden. Within the blink of an eye, her father had left her side and vanished into the night. Suzie struggled against the warden, trying desperately to free herself and gabbling that her grandmother was at home, but he was having none of it.

‘Some folk are too old to get to safety, but there’s no sense in both of you risking your lives,’ he said breathlessly as Suzie continued to struggle with all her might, but in the end he was too strong for her, and would have got her into the shelter had it not been for a bomb falling close by, knocking them both off their feet. Seizing her opportunity, Suzie was up and off down the road before the man could stop her.

Racing towards Crooked Lane, Suzie gave a cry of triumph. She would get her grandmother out, and they would deal with her father the next day when he’d had time to calm down. As she ran she wondered whether he might have had a change of heart and gone back to fetch his mother. She shook her head; when her father made his mind up to do something, there was no changing it. She had just reached Mercer Court when the second bomb fell. She closed her eyes instinctively as the phosphorous white fire engulfed the coal merchant’s. Putting her hand up to protect her eyes from the fierce flames, she tried to make out their home, but the flames had consumed the entire building.

Tears streaming down her face, she turned her back on the disaster which met her eyes. She couldn’t bear to think of her grandmother left to die because she had spoken the truth. Suzie stood rooted to the spot, unable to move, then started as someone placed an arm around her shoulders. She looked up into the face of Mabel’s mother, Elsa Johnson.

‘Good God, Suzie, what on earth are you doing out here?’ she said, quickly guiding Suzie back to the shelter. ‘You’re lucky you weren’t in there …’ Seeing Suzie’s tear-stained face, she put a hand to her mouth. ‘Where’s your grandmother and father?’

Suzie erupted into yet more tears. Her shoulders shaking, she managed to stammer out, ‘Gran was still at home … she’s gone.’