New homes honour fire heroes

By John Hill on July 24, 2008 1:42 PM |

Tagged with:

THE WARTIME sacrifice of two female firefighters has been honoured in the naming of a new Isle of Dogs development.

Swan Housing’s residential overhaul of the former Millwall Fire Station in Westferry Road will feature two blocks named after teenagers Violet Pengelly and Joan Bartlett.

The young pair were among those who lost their lives during a bomb attack at the height of the blitz.

Violet, 19, and Joan, 18, were among the first women to sign up to the Auxiliary Fire Service in 1938, and were based at a sub-station in the Saunders Ness Road School on the Isle of Dogs when World War II broke out a year later.

The two were killed – along with 24 other emergency workers – when the school suffered a direct hit from a high-explosive bomb on the night of September 18, 1940.

Swan Housing decided to name two blocks in The Watch development after the pair, following an investigation by the Island History Trust into the site’s past.

Family members attended a formal naming ceremony for Bartlett Mews and Pengelly Apartments last week.
Swan Housing Group development director Kevin Hartnett said: “The role played by people like Violet and Joan deserves to be remembered and I’m proud this development has been named in their memory.”

Swan has converted the listed building into 18 one and two-bedroom cottages.

Asking prices for the apartments range from £250,000 to £375,000.

Alternatively prices for shared ownership range from £100,000 to £170,000. Keyworkers such as firefighters are high on the priority list for these homes.