The main portion of the building of a Boys' Orphanage in North London in charge of the Sisters of Charity of St. Viacent de Paul. suffered damage as the result of a direct hit in one of last week's raids. Twn other bombs were dropped, one in the garden and the other in the roadway nearby. The bomb that struck the building penetrated the roof of the community room and passed through to the chapel below, where it exploded and destroyed the sanctuary and altar, and the adjoining office.
Four Sisters were in the chapel at the time, and one, the Superior, received injuries arid was taken to hospital. A resident A.R.P. warden was flung by the force of the explosion through the hole the bomb had made in the roof into the garden below, sustaining minor injuries.
The babies' nursery is situated only some fifteen feet from where the bomb fell. This building suffered no damage, and not even the windows were broken. But six children had to be promptly rescued from the boilerroom, where they were sheltering, and which had become flooded, the water rising eighteen inches.
THEY SHOUTED " BOMB !"
" One of the Sisters told me," says the CATHOLIC Hemet) reporter. "how the 200 boys who were having supper in their refectory near where the bomb fell, at once shouted: ' Bomb ! ' in one voice, and immediately ran to their shelters. They were not a hit frightened, just excited, as boys will always he. These boys, none of whom is over eleven years old, are Catholic orphans sent to the Sisters by the London and Middlesex Counties' P.A. Committees."
Apart from the orphanage, the Sisters have on the same grounds a home where some forty aged Sisters reside, and also their Central House, normally the novitiate for the British Province of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. The novices, however, are now at Torquay. The Central House was at one time the property of Charles II, who gave it to Nell Gwynn.
Direct Hit on Convent
A large convent school in London on the Thames was damaged by a direct hit by it high explosive bomb on Monday night. A good deal of damage was done to the top floor of the convent and school building. No one was hurt. It would appear that the bomb struck the top floor a glancing blow, sliced off the roof, damaged the top storey, but the greatest force of the explosion went outwards, otherwise the destruction would have been more extensive.
The girls' school, which is conducted by the Ursuline Sisters normally has about 350 pupils
Church Destroyed
A large oil bomb struck a church on the outskirts of London on Tuesday night.
The church, which celebrates the anniversary of its opening next Sunday, was severely damaged. The parish priest, who was in a shelter a few yards away, was uninjured. It was not possible to remove the Blessed Sacrament and all the vestments were dest royed .