Tag Archives: Police Station

Eileen Smith: WWII 1939, 1940 ARP

I was in the A.R.P. and so if I was on duty in the evenings, I went to the Town Hall, which was sandbagged all round, and passed on phone messages to Newport Headquarters.
I remember coming down the High Street in the dark one evening with my dad. The police came out of the Police Station with guns drawn and shouted, ‘Halt! Who goes there!’
My dad shouted back, ‘Dont be such a silly b … Percy! You know who we are!’

ARP log,Yarmouth Police flag

ARP log,Yarmouth Police flag

One day when I was working in s, a Bren Gun carrier was being driven round from Bridge Road to go up the High Street. They misjudged the angle and took the window opposite in Hardwoods clean out!

When I was out driving Mills delivery van along Thorley Road one day, there was a row of incendiary bombs that had been dropped to try to set fire to the harvest.
I had to drive up Hamstead Road with deliveries in the dark, with just a slit of headlight, trying to miss all the ruts. Because it was wartime, we were supposed to remove the rotor arm each time we stopped, so no enemy agents or paratroopers could steal the van. I think I did it once….
There was an ammunition dump between Pigeon Coo and Hamstead that I had to drive past when I was delivering. They always made me stop and show my identity papers although they knew who I was. I think they were bored because they didn’t see many people.

Shops: High Street, Whitewoods, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s

Harry Lee had had what was more or less a department store in the two storey brick building opposite the Police Station.  Godwins, who had a shop in Freshwater, then had it, and were struggling a bit, so my father took over the lease from them in 1951. It was the year of a big Poliomyelitis outbreak and the Daily Mirror carried a headline calling the Island ‘Polio Island’, so no one came for holidays and it nearly finished our business.
Edward Whitewood

High Street, Whitewoods 1970s with Ruth Mills in doorway

High Street, Whitewoods 1970s with Ruth Mills in doorway Photo M. Scott

When I passed the 11 Plus – the scholarship, we bought my uniform from Whitewoods. They stocked our blazers and uniforms for Newport Grammar School.
Diana Broomfield nee Ryall b 1942

Ruth  Mills at work at Whitewoods, High Street

Ruth Mills at work at Whitewoods, High Street photo : Ruth Mills