Village Memories

Alvecote Bombed
One winters night in 1941 we were all awoken by a large bang which shook the houses in Shuttington and even blew some windows out. The next morning we found out that a German bomber, probably unable to find it's intended target of Coventry or Birmingham had dropped it's bombs between Shuttington and Alvecote, totally demolishing one of the colliery forman's houses and badly damaging the Chapel in Alvecote. According to Mrs Ward's husband George, a part time Special Constable at the time, he heard several bombs come whistling down that night but only heard the one explosion and was sure three unexploded bombs lay down by the river Anker by the bridge.
Mrs B. Ward (Coronation Crescent, Shuttington).

R100 Airship over Shuttington
One summer in the early 1930's we were in the field below the Wolfestan Arms when the R100 Airship passed over the village heading in the direction of Atherstone. That was the first and last Airship I ever saw!
Mrs E. Johnson

Priory Memories
One November afternoon I was helping my sister with the cleaning at the Priory when three local lads came to the back door asking for some apples. When we told them we could not give them any they threw a firework into the doorway making a loud bang in the long hallway. One of the young trainee farmers who lodged at the Priory on hearing the bang chased them off back towards Alvecote.
Mrs B. Ward (Coronation Crescent, Shuttington).