Photographs and diary entries by an unconventional couple provide a unique insight into life in the London suburbs during The Blitz. JOE CURTIS find out how the display challenges assumptions about attitudes at the time.

Pictures taken by air raid wardens Fred and Daisy James, currently on display at Redbridge Library, are vivid snapshots of an era of blacked-out windows and bomb sites in wartime Wanstead.

These are complimented by Fred's diary entries, written when the couple lived in Herongate Road, which provide a very personal perspective on life at the time.

Littered with humour and strong opinions, the diary shows Fred to be a deep thinking, independent man who is rather cynical of government propaganda.

It often challenges the image of respectful Londoners pulling together and carrying on regardless.

Alex Lyons, who put the display together, admits to being surprised by some of Fred's attitudes, which would have been considered unorthodox in the 1940s.

She said: "It’s an amazing account. It completely changed my view of life at the time.

"Speaking to grandparents you get an idea of everyone being respectful and getting on with it.

"He almost thinks people were a little bit silly, and influenced by the propaganda of the government." 

Fred's religious views also went against the grain at the time.

Describing the death of his father in 1939, he writes: "Once again I have to thank my atheism… one is able to accept death as inscrutable and mere chance, rather than as a further blunder or senseless destruction at the hands of an incompetent and merciless deity."

The couple themselves had a near miss when a bomb shattered the windows of their home and blew clumps of their neighbours' gardens onto their roof.

But they survived the war and their passion for photography continued.
The collection contains pictures of Churchill's unsuccessful post-war election campaign and colourful pictures of the area in the 1950s.

The couple later moved to Dale Gardens, Woodford Wells, by 1948, and are said to have seen out their lives in comfort.

The collection was eventually donated to the Passmore Edwards Museum and later given to the Redbridge Museum.

The display, called Caught on Camera!, runs until September 28 in the museum, on the second floor of Redbridge Library.