A WOMAN who spent her childhood hiding from bombs in an underground shelter beneath a school’s playground has returned as guest of honour to officially open new classrooms.

Maevis Ball, 82, attended Jenny Hammond Primary School in Elsham Road, Leytontone, during the First World War.

The pensioner attended the opening ceremony for an extension built on the site of the bomb shelter on Wednesday, March 22.

Ms Ball, who has lived near the school all her life, was just four when the war broke out. A year later her father died of pneumonia leaving her mother and uncle to care for the family.

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Mayor of Waltham Forest Cllr Peter Herrington, Principal of Jenny Hammond School Deborah Gibbon and Maevis Ball with a pupil.

She said: “I lived here thought the Blitz and it was pretty rough.

“My mother and uncle would take my brother and me down to the shelter every night.

“We would leave after we’d had our evening meal and it was getting dark, bringing blankets and pillows with us.

“There were steps down to the shelter and two long corridors and a chemical toilet for about 100 of us. We used to stay until around 7am and then get up and go to school.

“Some of our neighbours used their own bomb shelters in their back gardens but ours was leaking so we had to use that one.”

The Mayor and Mayoress of Waltham Forest Cllr Peter Herrington and Susan Herrington also attended the ceremony.

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Pupils at the opening ceremony listening to Ms Ball's speech.

Ms Ball, who never married, said although the war broke out just when she started school, her education didn’t suffer.

She said: “In those days even though there was a war the teachers didn’t want us to fall behind on our education and they were very strict about it.

“We had a corridor lined with sandbags and we would sit there with our books.

“It didn’t spoil my learning and when the war ended I passed the 11 Plus exam and got into high school.

“After the war I suffered a bit with nerves and I didn’t like storms and loud bangs and the doctors said it was because of the war.”

Ms Ball’s uncle Sidney Harrison lost his life in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. His name is engraved in a war memorial in the playground at Jenny Hammond School.

The pensioner said although she believes life is easier on children nowadays, she grew up in a safer environment.

She added: “It was very interesting going back to the school and meeting all the pupils and telling them about my time there. Life is so much easier for them nowadays.

“Leytonstone has changed a lot since I was a child. Obviously the facilities now are a lot better with waste collection and other things.

“But when I was growing up it was much safer for children and you knew your neighbours.

“If I needed to come home early from school and my mother wasn’t there I could just go to a neighbours. Nowadays you can’t do that.”