Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
A conversation with a survivor of the bombed out houses in Fairfax Road
Earlier today, I popped by Adam Coffman's house in Fairfax Road. Whilst we were chatting outside his house, an older chap poked his head round the fence and pointing at the 1960s flats now filling the gap in the Victorian terraces where a doodlebug hit in 1944, "There y'are", he said, "Used to be number 105 there. I was born there in 1940. I was a war baby. It got 'it by a V1. I was only young but I remember it like yesterday. It wasn't the noise or the fire. It was the pressure I remember most. Tremendous force, it was like nothing I felt since. My dad used to be a French polisher. I think my brother was 'ome. He did the radars on HMS Hood. He was one of the few survivors.............."
And so this rich seam of local history poured out unabated (and unabateable). David (David Richard Norman, to do him justice) later lived in Umfreville Road, where in the 1980's he helped to get Railway Fields established and chose its name. Apparently it was nearly called Green Lanes Park!
I've given him my number and he's promised to get in touch and share his memories on 'tape'. He's also promised that he'll post a copy of a long letter he wrote to the Journal back in 1980 about his experiences in WWII Harringay.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Why shiver my timbers, 'ow perseepeekashus of ye Hob lad, ee were, at that.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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Hugh. I am glad you will try to capture some of this on tape. It would be great to save this oral history.
I spent a lot of time with my Gran some years ago while I lived in my home town and she told me a lot about my family and grandfathers war experiences and it fascinated me.
One thing that I would love to do would be to hear David describe his experiences. I wonder whether we can arrange something (at Stroud Green librarby or one of the churches for example) where we might meet David and hear him speak? If so, I would be happy to help organise this.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Oh dear, I'm going to make myself unpopular here ..but I can't help but mentioning my unease at this obsession you all have with wartime reminiscences. And this continued myth that everyone who lived during the period 1939-1945 were all 'victims' and at the same time 'heroes'..
Most people in North London, as far as I can ascertain, tried to live their lives as normally as possible. My father was a part-time fire-watcher in Harringay and my mother helped build gliders at Lebus' in Tottenham for a while. The casualty numbers in London and Harringay were certainly not low.. but they are, I'm afraid, 'peanuts' when compared to what the RAF & USAAF inflicted on civilians not only Germany, but also on countries that happened to be caught up in battle in Europe and in the Far East. The six year 'War Dead of Harringay' total was often acheived in one night over Austria, Holland, Belgium, France, or Germany and Japan..
In theory, I accept yet another local voice/memory recorded is a good thing.. Like a collection of sound reminicsences from those who experienced the 1930s depression or perhaps even 1960s love children. But I ask myself, where are all the offers to record the Harringay RAF crew members on how they felt bombing killing civilians, in Italy, Austria and Germany, Serbia, Greece and all the rest..? The one RAF bomber crew member I knew, certainly preferred not to talk about his wartime deeds - due to the lack of sleep it caused him.
This exagerrated one-sided approach irritates me.. BTW, I too lost two great grand parents in Haringey in a V2 attack in January 1945, as well as uncles and great uncles in service in WW1 & WW2, but have come to see that war has two sides.. and I feel far too little, if any thought or any effort or education in the UK is put into telling the story of the victims of the British Empire, which also lead a pro-active war.. often planning how to kill as many people as possible.
A HoL 'Sound Archive' by all means, but please, there have been many other low points and acheivements in Harringay and North London apart from WW2. Can we change the record at last please?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Stephen, I think it's important to capture oral history. These voices won't be around much longer. I hope that similar work is being done with the survivors of the firebombing of Dresden and other places that suffered during war. Hearing these accounts first hand is the most effective way of helping us all understand what war is like, and to help children understand that it wasn't like a video game and the people who lived through it (on all sides) were just like them.
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Yes, I can agree with that Michael.. but that wasn't the point I was making..
As for first hand accounts.. some firestorm accounts and pictures here but *WARNING* !! http://www.codoh.com/incon/inconabr.html
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Permalink Reply by Justine on
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That site seems to be suggesting that Birkenau's gas chambers were actually bomb shelters? Am I misundersanding something or is that whole site about denying the Holocaust?
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It may be .. That's insane , we all know that.. and that certainly wasn't what I was implying..
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Stephen it is, a quick Google shows the site's owner is a well know Holocaust "revisionist" who refutes the existence of the gas chambers.
Scary stuff. Wish I hadn't clicked on it now!
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Yes ?--excuse me for adding that link.. Even so, the photos are real.. they appear in many books..
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