Drawings by schoolchildren inside an air raid shelter of the deadly rockets which rained down on Epsom as they took cover inside are to be preserved when the structure is destroyed next month.

The shelter, built in 1938, in the grounds of West Ewell Infant School, in Ruxley Lane, Epsom, will be demolished as part of an expansion programme at the school which will see it move to four-form entry in September.

Planning permission to get rid of the structure, which schoolchildren, civilians and military personnel used to seek refuge from enemy air attacks from the air during the World War Two, was granted by Epsom Council last year.

But David Brooks, museum assistant at Bourne Hall, in Spring Street, Ewell, said the bricks on which the school's students drew will be carefully removed during the demolition and displayed at the museum before being returned to the school.

He said: "Every school had an air raid shelter.

"The drawings are of V1 Rockets, also known as Doodle Bugs.

"Over 30 V1s fell in the borough during the war and a lot of them fell in Ewell.

"But no one knew what it was.  Everyone thought it was a crashed aircraft as they were like pilotless aircrafts in many ways.

"The V1s were launched from the coast of France and when they ran out of fuel they fell out of the sky.

"A lot of them fell in Surrey because British intelligence had said they were over-shooting London so they put less fuel in them and they started falling in Surrey.

"When they fell they would take out a row of houses.  They killed more people in Epsom and Ewell than all other enemy action in the borough."

Were you were one of the students who drew a sketch inside the air shelter or took refuge in it?  Email Hardeep Matharu on the newsdesk on hmatharu@london.newsquest.co.uk