THE REMOVAL of the iron fences on Primrose Hill for scrap metal… the lions being shipped out of Regent’s Park zoo in case of bombs… the woman from Fleet Road who moved to Hampstead Underground at the start of the Blitz and liked it so much she only went home in May 1945.
These are the kinds of stories Camden Council wants to collect for an exhibition to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II – and it needs your help.
One person ready to share his memories is former Camden mayor Roy Shaw.
The Labour councillor for Gospel Oak is the subject of a film made by the council which follows him as he retraces his steps as a 19-year-old soldier in the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.
As the Allies liberated Europe, he served as a wireless operator and gun loader in a Sherman tank. His detachment was one of the first to cross the Rhine.
Earlier this month the 79-year-old paid an emotional visit to the grave of the commander of his tank, which was hit by a German shell. He also paid his respects at nearby Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
He said: “My first visit to the scene of the crossing brought back the tremendous feeling of exhilaration which we felt at being the first British tanks to get across and enter the heartland of Germany.
“It was a very emotional experience to visit my commander’s grave. He was a first-rate officer and much respected by his troops.”
The young Roy Shaw enlisted in December 1943 aged 17, after declining to go to Cambridge University on a Navy-run course to learn to be an interpreter.
He added: “I turned it down because I realised the war would be over by the time my training was finished.”
He also remembers Camden during the war. He was born and grew up in West Hampstead and went to William Ellis School in Highgate Road, Parliament Hill.
He said: “We were evacuated to Leighton Buzzard as a school. I don’t remember if we met at Ellis or whether it was at Euston station.
“My poor mother was very busy that day as I had five sisters and they were all being evacuated too, but I do remember carrying my gas mask and a bag with all my worldly possessions in it.”
An event to launch War Memories takes place at The Mayor’s Parlour, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, on Friday, March 18 at 3.30pm.