| The following letter was written by Mrs Mollie
Cullingham, wife of the former Borough Engineer of Windsor, Gordon
Cullingham, to friends and relations during the flooding of 1947.
At that time they were living at No 6, Maidenhead Road, Windsor. |
6 Maidenhead
Road, Windsor
Wednesday,
19th March 1947
I am writing a communal letter, as
we are being kept very busy trying to organise ourselves, but
thought you would like to know how we are getting on.
The floods reached us on Saturday
night, and have been rising slowly ever since. My kitchen and
scullery are under water and it will soon be in the hall, bedroom
and lounge, We are living in the flat upstairs with Mrs. Marrin
and her daughter. Fortunately the other members of her family
are no longer living here, so not too cramped.
The water supply is still functioning,
gas coming from Slough, but the electricity is off. Coal, bread
and milk deliveries are fairly well organised, and it is possible
to get into the town either by punt, canoe, landing craft, Army
diesel lorries, or amphibious 'ducks' so altogether things might
be worse. We usually get wet feet in the process, but no ill
effects so far, touch wood.
Mark [Mollie
and Gordon's 6 year old son]
had a cold before it all started, and of course it is persisting,
so I am going to try and get him to Kath [Mollie's sister in law] at Orpington
tomorrow. No one near here is in a position to take him, unfortunately.
I am going to stick it out if humanly
possible, to look after Gordon who comes in every day for a meal
and change and a few hours sleep. He can, of course, get food
at the centre of operations, but only snacks, I think. I put
down two dozen eggs last week but the ducks (now residing on
top of coal shed, and fed through kitchen window) have stopped
laying. Also have plenty of meat and other rations, collected
yesterday, and if things get no worse we shall be O.K..
I'm afraid the devastation will be
terrible, the road has subsided outside here already, useful
at the moment, as the punts can come up without grounding, but
I'm afraid a lorry will go down unless it is soon marked. I have
no real idea of the extent of the flooding, but all low-lying
levels are now under water, I believe, all over the town. Fortunately
the shopping centre is on the hill, and the G.W.R. is still functioning.
Many of the evacuated people have gone to Slough.
Please excuse me for not writing
more, but cannot concentrate on it, my brain will probably be
paralysed by the time it is all over. It seems like a fantastic
nightmare, but suppose things will return to normal in the course
of time. Hope you are all well.
Mollie
|
