On the night of 14 November 1940 Coventry was heavily bombed. From the village local people could see the glow in the sky of the burning buildings.

"I can remember distinctly the night they bombed Coventry, ( I don't think we went to bed that night). I remember standing on the doorstep, which today is number 2 Loughton Road. I looked across the railway line and could see it quite clearly".

In later years, beyond the railway line was a wheat field and after harvesting, the farmer would burn the stubble left in the field. "I can remember saying 'I do hate it when they burn that stubble, it reminds me of when they bombed Coventry, it was just like a field of stubble burning".