AN eyewitness to the bombing raid on Malvern on the night of September 4, 1940, was Ken Davis, now of Pound Bank Road. And, ironically, the raid helped him do his bit to help buy the Malvern Spitfire.

Mr Davis' father, Raymond, was sector ARP warden for Sector D30, which took in the area around part of Pickersleigh Road, Pickersleigh Avenue and Worcester Road, including the Morgan works and Malvern Link Station.

Mr Davis' snr owned a grocery business just along from the Foley Arms and was secretary of the Malvern Grocers' Association.

His son still has his sector book, recording a succession of drills, the issuing of gas masks and the raid itself, in which he noted the number of bombs, the times and damage to property.

He has also kept a map of the sector he prepared as a boy, with the names of householders, where there were children and animals, who had ladders or stirrup pumps and, in red and yellow, where the bombs fell.

The family home was at 100 Pickersleigh Road, an area which had seen dramatic changes since the outbreak of war.

The arrival of soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk to a makeshift camp, had given way to trenches, machine gun nests and a more permanent military presence.

What was also recognised was the potential for air raids and families had designated 'safe' rooms in their homes, protected by sandbags and slabs, in the event of attack.

"We talked about it, what we were going to, all us lot who lived here." said Mr Davis. "We tried to work out whether it would be safe enough to stop in the house or go into the field.

"There was a dip there and we had all decided if anything happened, we would go into the dip."

In the event it was best that everything happened too fast, nobody made it to the spot where one of the nine 110lb Sector D bombs landed.

According to the log compiled by Mr Davis snr, a purple warning was issued at 21.50, with the high explosive bombs being dropped at 23.30.

Three landed on the Link Common, two more fell on farm buildings at Wookeys Farm, destroying a car, and two more fell behind Pickersleigh Road, around where Cedar Road now is.

Another one landed on a home in Pickersleigh Road and the last fell on open ground just over the road.

The all clear was issued at 5.15am on September 5, Mr Davis snr recording that three bungalows suffered damage in his sector, along with the two farm buildings.

The raid obviously attracted interest and came at a time when fundraising had started to buy a Spitfire. Mr Davis and his friend, John Fagg, decided to collect funds and hit on the fine of idea of leading guided walks around the bomb damage in return for vital funds.