AN EAST End girl has shared her childhood memories of Private Sidney Godley – the popular school caretaker who performed one of the bravest acts of the First World War.

Pt Godley, who is buried in St John’s Churchyard, Loughton, was awarded the Victoria Cross after single-handedly fending off enemy troops with a machine gun for two hours, despite being shot in the head.

His defence of the Nimy Bridge in Mons on August 23, 1914, made him the first soldier of the war to earn the decoration.

But June Pearcey, of Hanson Drive, Debden, remembers him only as the friendly caretaker who would chat with her young classmates during their 1940s school days.

After the war, Pt Godley took up a post at Cranbrook Road School in Bethnal Green alongside Mrs Pearcey’s late mother, Ann Chambers.

“I was at school there, mum being the dinner lady, and everyone knew Mr Godley. I think his daughter-in-law also worked in the kitchen with my mum,” said Mrs Pearcey, now 75.

“He was always speaking to the little kids, little tots of five or six.”

But, as a child, Mrs Pearcey says she knew nothing of Pt Godley’s heroic past.

“Oh no, he was just Mr Godley to me,” she said.

After the Second World War, Mrs Pearcey’s family moved to the new Debden Estate – built to house East End locals driven out by bombing and poor living conditions. A short time later, Pt Godley and his wife Ellen relocated to nearby Torrington Drive.

Mrs Pearcey keeps an undated clipping of Pt Godley, taken from the now defunct daily News Chronicle.

“Mum cut it out because it was Mr Godley in the picture,” she said. “It’s him on parade with his medals.

“I just feel it’s come to the end of an era now that his medal is being sold.”

The caption reads: “How many in the crowds watching the Old Contemptibles’ parade through the City of London yesterday noticed the V. C. among the medals this man was wearing as he stepped out briskly near the head of the column.

“He is Mr Sidney Godley, formerly of the Royal Fusiliers, an L.C.C. school caretaker.

“He won his Cross for gallantry at Mons, the first man to be awarded the decoration in the 1914-1918 war.”

Pt Godley’s VC went under the hammer on Thursday (July 19) and fetched £230,000 – smashing experts’ predictions of £140-180,000.