大象传媒

We lived in Kennington, in a flat above the CO-Op. The local vicar at St. Marks was Field Marshall Montgomery鈥檚 uncle. My father was called up in 1940, and joined the 8 Th army. He sent postcards home from each stop off point. We still have all of them. He sailed via the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt and then fought in the desert campaign. Later they fought their way through Italy. He was finally, demobbed in late 1945.
In 1942, I was 5 years old. I had my tonsils out in the Evelina Children鈥檚 Hospital (Guys). This involved being kept in isolation for 7 days. Where we lived was bombed, an incendiary bomb went through all the floors, the shelter was below the house. In 1943, the family were moved to Bromley for 9 weeks. There was no school available during this time. The house we stayed in was bombed flat. In 1944, mothers and small children were moved out of London. We travelled by train from Euston to Crewe and then by coaches to a Welsh village. Then, this was called Newmarket, it now has a Welsh name.
The village was Welsh speaking. We were billeted with a miner鈥檚 family. The custom was not to use the front door of the house except for weddings and funerals. We found this out by mistake. There were no mod cons and water was fetched from a pump down the road. Milk was collected from a hill farm. Cooking was done on paraffin stove. Rabbits and ferrets were kept. We collected rose hips from the hedgerows. These were sent to children in London. The school had two rooms, but the teaching was very good. We celebrated Empire day throughout the war, and we were given a small Union Jack to wave.
At the end of the war, on V.E. Day, a bonfire was lit on the hill above the village.
When we returned to London, the public library was open but we could only have 1 book each, there were no picture books so many books had been lost in the bombing. This must have made a big impression on me, as I became a librarian.

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