My dad said there should never have been a shelter at Wilkinson’s. There’d been heavy bottling machinery on the ground floor, just standing on wooden boards, and when the bomb hit, it all just collapsed on the people below.
Robert Westall: Children of the Blitz: p110
Photographs
Bomb damage photographs of the Wilkinson’s shelter incident: courtesy of North Tyneside Local Studies Library
Film footage of bomb damage at Wilkinson’s: source unknown.
click each image to enlarge
[a] Children at the bomb site
[b] Rescue workers at Wilkinson’s.
[c] Rescue workers at Wilkinson’s.
[d] Showing door entrance to Shelter and Shelter Occupany sign above door.
Film Footage
This is a 34 second clip taken from a 35 minute cine-film entitled Bomb Damage in North Shields. The quality is poor but you can make out the men clearing the site..and the use of a horse and cart.
The existence of this film was largely unknown until a copy on video was loaned to us during our research for this site. Despite investigation we have been unable to discover who shot this film and for what purpose. The film footage seems to have been taken at the same time as the photos. Bearing in mind that whoever took the film, they presumably would have needed permission to be at the site and would have needed (rare) film stock.
Our bet is that the film was taken by/on behalf of the Borough Surveyor’s Office as part of a war-long record keeping exercise perhaps to assist in war damage claims.
Appeal
Who has the original film of Bomb Damage in North Shields? Check your attics!
Please get in touch if you can help with the rediscovery of this important archive resource.
If you have any questions or would like to comment on this item please use the comments link below.
Has anyone tried contacting the family of Roland Park or the local television people for this film. I have long been fascinated by the fact that such a densely populated area seemed to have little purpose built shelters, particularly around the Smith’s dock, gasworks and riverside area.
We have indeed contacted the family of Roland Park and local TV and archives – the existence of the film was unknown. Someone somewhere has the original…please get in touch!
I came across this article while I was searching the net for info on the Wilkinson Disaster. A late friends Father was an ARP Warden for the Cullercoats Tynemouth District. His day job was working for the Evening Chronicle. He was also a keen home movie maker and developed his own photographs. It is possible that he was involved with the clearance of the Wilkinson Shelter and may have shot the film. I doubt the original film survived, but I do have an old cine camera that belonged to him.