The letter was written by my grandmother to my mother during the war. My mother gifted the letter and the coins to my younger son ten months before she died in September 2015.
My grandmother was born Hilda Wheeler in London on 20th August 1890. She married Harry Drury in 1925. Some of their children – Joan, Jack, Betty and Rita – are mentioned in the letter. They lived in Lewisham.
During the war, Hilda remained in the family home in Lewisham. Her daughter Joan, my mother, had been evacuated to Letchworth to stay with a relative.
The letter was written by Hilda to her daughter on the 11th July 1944. Enclosed with the letter were two half crowns (five shillings) as a birthday gift for Joan’s 18th birthday on 12th July 1944. The two half crowns were never spent and became keepsakes passed on by my mother.
They were not spent because, just two and a half weeks later on 28th July, a German V1 flying bomb landed on Lewisham High Street, killing 51 people … among them was Hilda Drury. Hilda had gone to Lewisham market to shop. Her youngest daughter Rita (aged 12) was supposed to accompany her mother but as she hadn’t finished breakfast, she remained at home.
A memorial bronze plaque was set into the pavement at the Lewisham Market entrance to Marks and Spencer on Lewisham High Street. The memorial was rededicated in 2011 and a plaque was placed on the wall of the Marks & Spencer shop.
