The remains of the telephone exchange, Exchange Street, after it had been damaged by a parachute mine in December 1940.1

The mine exploded at ten-past-eleven on the evening of 8th December 1940, landing directly on the blacksmith's shop of Mr S H BUSH, behind the shops at the corner of South Street and the High Street.²  Two people lost their lives: twenty-seven year old Percy Alfred VANGO in South Street, and forty-two year old Edward FLEMING in the telephone exchange.³

The exchange was rebuilt, and survived for another 60 years before being demolished.

¹ Reproduced from Romford, Collier Row & Gidea Park, plate 149b, by kind permission of the author.
² Hitler v Havering: 1939-1945, pages 55-56 & 173.
³ Ibid., pages 58 & 185.

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