She’d lost her shoes in the ditch, but she barely noticed as she ran headlong out of the recreation ground and swerved to go down the hill and into Havelock Road as the three fire engines hammered ahead of her, their bells ringing, the firemen clinging onto their sides.

She could see the smoke more clearly now. It was rising from the end of the cul-de-sac where the hill swept down to the beach, and there were flames rising with it – terrible flames that burnt bright red and orange. But something was wrong with what she was seeing, and as she chased after the fire engines and trucks, she realised with horror what it was. The huge gun was no longer there.

Peggy collided with Ron and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her. But she had eyes only for the inferno before her – the swirling black smoke and the great swords of flame that pierced through it, devouring what was left of the two end houses.

The shattered remains of the anti-aircraft gun could be seen lying at the core of the house next to Doris’s, the corpses of the men who’d manned it flung like stringless marionettes into the vegetable patch that had once been the quiet little park.

Trees had been uprooted and lay leafless in the road as the hungry flames ran in rivers to feast on them. Garden walls had been obliterated, drainpipes torn from their tethers and twisted out of shape – and everywhere was the glitter and twinkle of broken glass.

‘Doris is in there,’ she yelled to John Hicks, the fire chief. ‘She’s got twenty guests for lunch, and there are two evacuees as well. You’ve got to get them out!’

He gently put her aside and calmly organised his men to cover the bodies of the soldiers and aim their jets into the heart of the raging fire. ‘I’m not sending anyone into that,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, Peggy, but it’s highly unlikely there’s anyone still alive in either house.’

Peggy felt numb as she tried to comprehend what he’d said. Doris couldn’t be dead. It was impossible to even think of such a thing. She was larger than life, bossy and overbearing and definitely not the sort of person to be hit by a bomb.

‘Move back, Mrs Reilly. Come along. Let the firemen do their work.’

Peggy stared at the man in the tin hat and Civil Defence uniform and stood firm. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

She ignored him and stared dumbly as the roof at the back of Doris’s house collapsed and brought down the side wall, which flattened the garage. The flames were gathering energy and greedily feeding on this new bounty, probably drawn by the fumes of the petrol Doris had hidden in there.