An 87-year-old woman from Chislehurst is set to return to the caves where she lived for months as a child to protect her from falling bombs.

It was the start of The Blitz in 1940 and Jill Cheeseman, then only nine, stayed down in the “scary and eerie” Chislehurst Caves for 10 weeks.

Guided tours are now held at the historic caves in Chislehurst but in the Second World War it was a place for 15,000 people to huddle together and stay safe.

However, Jill, who survived in the dark caves with her three siblings and mum, lost two friends during the 10 weeks.

She told News Shopper: “One girl the same age as me was playing on the top of the cave and sand collapsed on her.

“Another young boy died after being scratched in the leg which resulted in septicaemia.”

On Saturday (September 8) the operators of the cave have offered to host a reunion for Jill and her family.

One of Jill’s sisters, who was born after the war, has never been down to the caves where her family survived the battle.

“It sounds silly but I wasn’t unhappy down there,” Jill said.

“It was scary at first, but we used to play truth and dare with other kids and we would go into out-of-bounds parts.

“I had some lovely friends down there.”

Her and her twin brother Jack had planned on organising a family reunion at the caves but he died at Christmas.

Jill is now continuing with the plan with four generations of her family attending.

She said: “I am so looking forward to it. It has taken over my life for the past few months. People are coming who I have not seen in 20 years.”

Jill is the author of A Child’s Wartime Memories, a documentation of what she and her family experienced during the war.