British Army Phootographer Rupert Frere has circulated these pictures of the Wembley bomb via Twitter (@Rupert_Frere #WembleyBomb). Work is going on to defusethe bomb which was found on a building site close to the Civic Centre yesterday.
The Civic Centre will be closed on Friday with skeleton services run from the Bridge Park Leisure Centre.
This is a map of where bombs fell in the area during the London Blitz 7th October 1940 to 6th June 1941. There was additional bombing outside this period of course.
Source LINK
The Civic Centre will be closed on Friday with skeleton services run from the Bridge Park Leisure Centre.
This is a map of where bombs fell in the area during the London Blitz 7th October 1940 to 6th June 1941. There was additional bombing outside this period of course.
Source LINK
19 comments:
When, where?
One way to improve the look of that Quintain development.
I was really shaken up and deeply saddened when I heard about this earlier.
You really must follow Wembley Matters on Twitter Pete to keep up. See earlier posts. I have edited story to give the where/when details.
My late Pa reckoned there were still UXBs in the Welsh Harp and Gladstone Park. He'd been an ack ack guns in both places.
Further to earlier memo (below):
1. All Cabinet members to assemble at 1200 hours to pray for very large (but hopefully non-lethal) explosion.
2. All press and other media enquiries on this incident are to be answered with the following statement:
' The Leader is not making any accusations but independent witnesses are said to have seen Cllr Duffy in the area early on Thursday morning carrying a large tubular object and a spade'. Any deviation from the wording will be regarded by the Leader as 'previous behaviour'.
M.Butt, 11.30 , 22/05/15
CONFIDENTIAL: MEMO TO CABINET
'A good day to bury bad news. Let's rush out the Rosemarie Clarke compensation figures/Cara Davani 'I want to spend more time with my dogs' resignation announcement (plus Golden Goodbye award of £800,000).
Any other ideas? Quick, we don't have long ......... '
The Leader, 09.00 22/05/2015
Mike Hine
Cue Alison's stalker demanding to know why she was allowed to have her own PA 'on the rates' .........
There seems to be some dispute about your bomb map, Martin.
Councillor Butt has just issued to the media an identical diagram but claims that it shows all the confirmed sightings of Cllr Duffy acting suspiciously between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. He says it's consistent with his 'previous conduct'.
Could you check it, please?
Mike Hine
Mike Hine
I'm not sure that the map shows a complete record of where the bombs fell, as the former British Empire Exhibition site (between the stadium and Wembley Park station) was also heavily bombed. As at least part of the site was being used for military purposes, it is possible that the civilian local Wembley Council was not allowed to record bombs falling there.
Here are some details that I sent to the B&K Times this morning, providing some background information to the story of the unexploded bomb:
The information comes from the 1953 book "Wembley Through The Ages" by Reverend H.W.R. Elsley, a founder member of Wembley History Society in 1952, and whose own church, St Michael's, Tokyngton, suffered severe bomb damage during the Second World War.
The former British Empire Exhibition site at Wembley Park was a "target" for German bombers, because some of the large remaining buildings there (including the 13-acre Palace of Engineering and 10-acre Palace of Industry, either side of what is now Olympic Way) were being used for the war effort.
Rev. Elsley writes:
'An enemy airman shot down in Wembley Park had in his possession a map on which were duly marked the R.A.F. depots in the Exhibition grounds, so perhaps it is not surprising that repeated attempts were made to bomb them.'
It is quite likely that the unexploded bomb uncovered yesterday was dropped during one of those raids. Rev. Elsley reports from the official records kept by Wembley Borough Council during the Second World War, which show that around 9,000 bombs were dropped on its area, including over 500 high explosive bombs. Casualties from the bombing in the borough were 149 killed, 401 seriously injured and over 400 more less seriously injured. More than half the homes in the borough suffered some bomb damage, with 528 demolished or damaged beyond repair, and another 449 so seriously damaged as to be uninhabitable.
Given that much bombing, it is not surprising that a few unexploded bombs are still being found up to 75 years later!
Philip Grant
(Wembley History Society member).
They're both wrong. I work for the Education Funding Agency. We produced this map in 2013 and the red dots show all the prospective sites for the Michaela Free School except the final one.
(Ms Birbalsingh turned them all down on the grounds that they were 'too safe').
Oh, NICE. But perhaps too accurate......! ;)
Remember when Brent was a Nuclear Free Zone? We could now update to being a Terror Free Zone -
"Bombs not welcome in Brent: we have our own, if its all the same to you"
and
"Brent Council: redefining atrocious behaviour"
From the second photo it looks as if they discovered the bomb as they were excavating the site for Dawn's new Jacuzzi.
Is this what Chairman Mo has been covering up?
Nazi flytippers - off our streets!
Does Wembley History Society have a blog or twitter? Really interesting Philip.
There were bombs dropped all over the Wembley area nothing special about the stadium
jerry did his work well can remember one night when a factory in Lancelot road was hit every thing was fare game to the German bombers
They're on Facebook, I believe, along with several other local history groups.
Thank you for your enquiry "at 17:08".
I'm afraid that WHS does not have a blog or twitter account, but we do have a section giving details of our meetings in the community directory at:
http://www.visitwembleyvisitbrent.com/
You can find details of our next meeting (an illustrated talk I am giving about local architect, Ernest Trobridge) in the "Brent Highlights" box on the site's home page.
You can find links to blogs and Facebook entries on the Brent Museum and Archives website: www.brent.gov.uk/archives , and if you "click" on the "local history resources" link from their homepage, it will take you to a page where you can find many illustrated articles about a wide range of local history subjects to either read on-line or download. By clicking on the "online catalogue" link from the homepage, you can also search through over 10,000 images (mainly old photographs and postcards of the Brent area).
I hope this is helpful, and that you and other "Wembley Matters" readers find something interesting about our local history that you can enjoy.
Philip.
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