CWGC - at 235 Stockport Road.

The 20/12/1940 edition of the High Peak Reporter
reported the story that occured "in a north-west
town".   Harry was a 46 year old ex-serviceman who
served in the Manchester Rgt during WW1, being
discharged through wounds received.   Educated at
Manchester University, he was a Master at
Manchester Grammar School, and later at Stockport
High School and at Oldham.    Latterly he had been
employed as a commercial traveller.

 He went out to his front door to watch an
intensive anti-aircraft barrage and was almost
immediately killed when a bomb dropped in the
small strip of garden at his feet.  The force of
the explosion tore away the gable end and the
front of the house.   The blast left a trail of
destruction and broken windows along both sides of
the road with debris covering the roadway.

His wife was sitting in a corner of the front
corner and had a miraculous escape.   Nearly
buried in a shower of masonry, she managed to free
herself and only suffered cuts and bruises.   
Their children - Olwen, aged 17 and Glennis, aged
8 were in bed upstairs but were unhurt.    Olwen
described her experience:-  "My sister and I were
awake listening to the gunfire.   Suddenly there
was a loud explosion at the front of the house and
plaster from the ceiling started to fall on us.   
We pulled the bedclothes over our heads and waited
until the fragments stopped.    I then got up, put
my dressing gown on and shook the plaster out of
my slippers.   I helped Glennis out of bed and we
went to the top of the stairs.......or rather to
where the stairs had been.as nothing remained of
them other than a pile of wreckage.   We were
trapped.    Glennis began to cry, but I managed to
calm her and told her fairy stories until help
came.   The auxilliary firemen climbed in through
the back bedroom window and took us down a ladder
to safety."

Mrs. Jones and her daughters found refuge with
relatives who lived in the same street.  Their
next door neighbours - Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Henry
Etchells were not at home when the bomb dropped. 
They too found refuge with relatives nearby.