steve reeves photographer

 EDNA

History tends to talk about the London Blitz, but ports like Southampton, where Edna lived, were heavily targeted. Over 2300 bombs and 30,000 incendiaries were dropped on the city.

Edna remembers the sound of the bombs, the anti-aircraft guns and the shrapnel coming down. Her house had no garden, so their shelter was in the cellar. Once there was a terrific explosion, they had to be dug out. It was debris from the house next door. Whole streets were destroyed in a single night.

One afternoon, she was walking home with a friend, and there was an air raid. It was broad daylight, and there were no warning sirens. They'd been told that if they were in the open, to hold on to a tree when the planes came. A man across the road called them over, but they said no and held on to the tree. A bomb then fell, and they saw the man fly up into the air. It was awful.

Edna remembers being out after when the department store Edwin Jones was hit. They hadn't picked up the bodies yet, and she saw them all - there were so many. Edna always kept this a secret because she had promised her mum that she would walk around the town and not through it.

One of her most vivid memories was walking to school with her little sisters and carefully stepping over the power lines all over the road after the bombing. Some were still live, and they saw the body of a beautiful Alsatian dog that had been electrocuted. She remembers her sister Barbara, an animal lover, sobbing uncontrollably.

As the blitz worsened, Edna was sent to the countryside. She lied about her age and joined The Land Army. It was hard work. She'd get up at 3.30 am to milk the cows and often worked until midnight to bring in the harvest. In this photo, she is seen standing in front of the same type of tractor she would drive across the fields back then.

German POWs were working on the farm. Edna remembers one called Gerhard. After the war, his parents came over from Germany to thank the farmer for looking after their son so well.

At 95, Edna still lives independently. She does all her cooking, cleaning and gardening and enjoys baking cakes. Her knee plays up, so Edna no longer goes to the shops. Her daughter Sally does the shopping and comes in every day to check that she's okay.

In her 70s, Edna had a triple heart bypass and fully recovered. A neighbour said that it was God's will. Edna said, no, it was the doctor's will.

A few years ago, Edna visited a museum that had reconstructed an air raid shelter. As she stepped inside, all the feelings came flooding back. She had a panic attack and just had to get out of there. Despite occurring over 80 years ago, Edna's memories of The Blitz don't go away.