In the late hours of Monday 14th April/early hours of Tuesday 15th April 1941 (this was the Easter holiday which came to be known as Black Easter) 15 Queen's Road, Portland was demolished by a world war two bomb killing 6 members of the Farwell family and an unborn child of about 8 months.

There would have been nine members of this large family at Queen's Road on that night: Archer(Dad), Nellie(Mum), Charles Walter (Babe), his wife Charlotte (Lottie), and five of Archer and Nellie's other children; Violet, Marion (Dinah), Cecil (Albert), Lionel and Peter.

The eldest son Archie was away at sea serving on the Arctic Convoys, whilst elder daughters Doll and Lil were married as was son Les. Arthur (Len) lived at the family home but was attending the Easter dance. The previous week had been Les's wedding.

Les was a Lance Bombardier with 103/522 Coastal Regiment whilst Len served in Africa.

On that fateful evening the three youngest boys, Albert 16, Lionel 11 and Peter 9 were sleeping in the Anderson Shelter in the garden. When the bomb struck they were buried alive for 15 hours whilst people tried to dig them out. Eventually they emerged with fingers raw and bleeding where they had been trying to escape. All of them had perforated ear drums. The question now was where would they live.

At this time Charles Walter/Babe was 24 and had married Lottie in early 1940. They were delighted to be expecting their first child. His nick name 'Babe' arose when his father went to France to serve in World War One. Babe was just 9 months old and who knew whether there would be more children. Babe went to St George's School, Reforne and like his brother, Les, was a quarryman. 

He joined the territorials in 1936 to supplement his income and was transferred into the regular army in 1939. He was now in 522 Coastal Regiment (super heavy) battery. Babe was on leave when the bomb that killed him was dropped.