and it exploded in a nearby field. Teacher, Miss Hewett, was once shown as absent due to 'the shock of the blitz'. The only wartime casualty known to occur in the village was of a soldier who was crushed by a tank while guiding it along Old Hall Farm Loke. Loss of life by residents on active service was much less than in the First World War; one name only is recorded on the War Memorial. To save petrol during the war, buses were powered by gas, which was produced in a coke burner towed behind the bus on a two-wheeled trailer. William Moore says that very limited power resulted, and the buses could only manage about fifteen miles per hour. On reaching Dunston Hill the passengers had perforce to alight and walk up the hill behind the struggling bus. During the war, scholars would walk to school carrying their lunch of meat paste, jam or even lard sandwiches, together with their gas mask and identity card; anyone forgetting the last two items could be sent back home to get them. Bob Lammas and William Moore both recall a wartime drama in the village when a spy was captured. He lived in a cottage on Church Hill and toured the district on a bicycle visiting the Horseshoes public house to mix with the soldiers drinking there. One night a vigilant Home Guard saw a flashing light from the cottage as enemy planes were flying over. The incident was reported, and shortly after the Tasburgh Home Guard were called out to patrol the area until a light armoured vehicle and army lorries with Military Police arrived. The spy was arrested and a radio transmitter was found in the cottage chimney. Late 20th century William Moore has given a vivid description of Tasburgh some 50 years ago, of cottages lit by paraffin lamps, tin baths by the fire, water from wells and bucket toilets at the bottom of the garden. A family of seven occupied a cottage in Saxlingham Lane which had but two rooms downstairs and two up, with an outside wash-house and toilet; it was aptly named Teapot House. An even smaller dwelling stood alongside the Old Post Office, having just one room on each storey to accommodate a family of seven. William tells of the terrible winter of 1947, when heavy snow fell in February and the freeze-up lasted