“IT WAS TERRIFYING”

Born in February 1923 as Mary Barry, Lock grew up in the northwest Coventry suburb of Coundon. Although the city was notable for its industrial areas, she remembers the ancient character of the city centre, “It was full of Medieval buildings. There was the cathedral, which was magnificent on the inside, and next door was Priory Row, St Mary’s Guildhall and other buildings. They all had their own particular, distinctive presence because they weren’t all built at the same time.”

Lock lived in a house on Three Spires Avenue, Coundon with her mother Ada, father Roland and two younger sisters. She was still at school when war was declared on 3 September 1939, “The main feeling I remember was fright. My parents were very distressed and frightened as to what was going to happen, how we had to be prepared for being bombed and how our lives would change.”

Early Raids

Roland, who was an engineer at the Daimler car factory in Coventry, applied his practical skills to defending his house and family, “He decided