Diary extracts for Aug to September 1940
16th Aug 1940:
Crispin disturbed by gunfire so he and Grock are taken to Bramhall near Manchester (to the Vincents) [Mavis's family] till 30thSeptember
25th Aug 1940:
Started “large” Dunkirk (40x60) later sold to Canadian War Museum for £260
7th Sep 1940:
Bombing of London started.
23rd Sep 1940:
While having a walk with Mavis on the Forest a German plane was hit over our heads by AA fire which looked very erratic. 2 fine streams of white smoke trailing for miles behind the plane which made off in the B’mth direction. It was too high to see but it got slower and slower, and we heard by the news later, crashed off the Needles
24th Sep 1940:
19 German planes bombing Southampton at lunch time
. . . could see the bombs dropping quite well. AA fire looked quite accurate but no planes brought down.
Our fighters not in evidence till nearly an hour later.
28th Sep 1940:
Redfern Gallery smashed a bit by the bomb which wrecked the top of Burlington Arcade. My Solent Fort was in the window . . . glass and frame smashed up, painting without a scratch!