Two wreaths of seasonal flowers were placed at the V2 memorial in Staveley Road, Chiswick, on 8 September at the actual time of the V2’s devastatingly destructive landing – 18.44. The Society has brought flowers every year since the unveiling of the memorial, a joint project of the Society with the Battlefields Trust, in 2004.

This time four members of the Society were accompanied by Liam Shaw who has been tracing V1 and V2 incidents across London; we invited him to lay the Society’s wreath. You can read Liam’s blog here.

We were delighted to welcome, quite unexpectedly, the 5 grandchildren of Ada Harrison who died in the blast at no 3 Staveley Road. (Mr & Mrs Harrison ran a newsagents and sweetshop called The Bonanza on the corner of Park Road and Burlington Lane, whch now forms part of the Co-op store).

The grandchildren had come from many different parts of South East England to bring their own wreath of crimson flowers. They had not known their grandmother – only one of them was alive in 1944, as a small baby – but they felt that the 75th anniversary was a significant date on which to commemorate her, making it a very touching occasion.