The Museum continues to receive interesting donations that all add to our knowledge of the local area. We have recently been given a postcard album which was compiled by the late Frank & Christine Knights. In the album there is this photograph of the Zeppelin bomb damage to St John’s Hill which members of the Collections Team haven’t seen before.
At about 10.30pm on 12th August 1915, one of a group of Zeppelins passed over Woodbridge & Melton and this was met with rifle and machine gun fire from soldiers stationed in the town. The crew responded by dropping more than 20 explosive and incendiary bombs. One of these fell on St John’s Hill killing 6 local people. As you can see from the photograph the damage to the area was extensive. The museum holds many other contemporary photographs which all show the extent of the devastation. Interestingly the article that Arthur Fairweather, the Editor of the Woodbridge Reporter, wrote was censured by the Press Bureau, presumably because it was thought it would be bad for morale for the loss of life to become more widely known. It was not until the 9th January 1919 that the paper was able to publish an account.
Woodbridge Museum has some of these events on display including the diary written by a young Ruby Hayward, the founder of the museum, detailing her experiences of that terrible night.
Do come and have a look.
