LIVING in London during the Second World War was a time of emotional turmoil, rations and time away from loved ones. 

In the face of uncertainty, the community in Walthamstow came together to build bomber planes to defy the enemy.

Here, curator at the Vestry House Museum, Gary Heales, gives us a taste of his upcoming book about the home front in Walthamstow. 

The idea for the book came from a conversation with Walthamstow Historic Society’s Neil Houghton and me.

We were looking at some of the Vestry House Museum’s extensive collection of Second World War photographs and remarking that many people still find the period interesting to look back on. 

We also thought it is a great source of education for the children of the borough, as without these photographs they would have little knowledge of what the people of Walthamstow went through.

The period between 1939 and 1945 saw a great deal of devastation in borough as it was badly affected by the enemy bombing campaign.

Part of the book remembers the evacuation of school children in 1939, when it was decided to ‘Send them to Safety’ to rural areas well away from the expected bombing. 

For some it was a big adventure, but for most it meant home-sickness and years spent away from loved ones.

My mother was one of those evacuated from Coppermill Lane School and she only went because her best friend May was going.

On the day her friend’s mother changed her mind and mum had to go on her own – she was away for four years.

The book is also a tribute from us to the thousands of men and women who lived and worked in Walthamstow in those years and despite all the shortages, bombing, rationing and the blackout worked together to win through in the end.

Another aspect of the book also looks at some of the many local factories that switched production over to much needed war work. 

One such factory was F Wrighton & Sons Ltd, who before the war produced furniture, but quickly switched over to the manufacture of over 1,000 de Havilland, DH98, Mosquito fighters and bombers.

Being largely made of ply and Balsa wood, the Mosquito was ideal for a factory used to working with timber.

Finally we can look back on some of the many VE and VJ Street Parties and the wave of euphoria brought by the end of the war.

The museum holds a fantastic collection of around 80,000 local photographic images, lantern slides and negatives of Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone.

Photographs may be viewed by appointment. Email: vhm.enquiries@walthamforest.gov.uk