大象传媒

I remember hearing on the wireless, as we called it then, the news that war had been declared. Even though I was only nearing my fourth birthday I can remember the fear of the unknown. I wondered what would happen. I remember peeping outside to see if things were different. Soon we had to prepare the windows to protect them from bomb blast. Brown sticky paper stripes were put in a crisscross design over all the windows, and blackout material so that no light could be seen at night. You could be fined if the air raid warden saw a light shining through as even the slightest glimmer could be seen from aeroplanes.

Everyone was supplied with gas masks. My mam took me somewhere down High Street Bank to, I think Hudson Road School, to be fitted with a gas mask as there were various sizes. I can still remember the smell of the rubber, which I didn't mind at all. We were given cardboard boxes to keep them in. It was slotted with string so it could be carried at all times round our necks. People used to make each other gas mask covers for Christmas presents, in all sorts of materials.

Every night my mam would have everything ready just in case we had to get up and go to the air raid shelter. As soon as the sirens went to warn us there was an air raid she would wake me up and I would jump into my siren suit, which as a bit like a cat suit with a hood and just put it over my pyjamas. She would also have a blanket and pillows and a flask of tea and some sandwiches as we never knew how long the raid would last.

We lived in Bedford Street and had a very big back yard. We were advised by the War Department that an air raid shelter was to be erected in our yard but we would not be able to use it as it was to be allocated to the admiralty who were billeted in the Grand Hotel in Bridge Street. We had to run up to the top of the street to an underground shelter under the National and Provincial Bank, Timothy Whites, and Taylors (a chemist). When you went in there were a number of rooms with bunk beds three high so we could sleep in them. We used to play games and tell stories and sing. The sound of the sirens used to (and still does) send a chill down my spine.

I remember one night, the sirens went and, as we were running up the street to the shelter, the guns were firing and searchlights caught an aeroplane in its sights. We kept dodging into the doorways until we reached the shelter.

One raid I remember was when St. Thomas's church in John St. was hit and the vicar was killed in the blast, which was so bad that it blew the fire watches in the air raid shelter and all the dust came down. All the bottles in the chemist's shop shattered and we could smell all the chemicals from the bottles. I remember our king and queen coming to visit the bombsite in John Street.

I became ill and developed diphtheria. I was taken to Havelock Hospital, which was an isolation hospital and I wasn't allowed any visitors because of infections. When there was an air raid in hospital the nurses would put the wooden trays, which had legs, over our heads to protect us from any glass from the windows. That was a particularly hard winter and I remember mam and dad only able to get the tram to Kayll Road and having to walk the rest in deep snow.

When I started school I used to take the tram from outside St. Mary's church in Bridge Street to Redby School. Every Friday we were allowed to take a toy. One day I took a doll and the sirens went, so were were ushered into the shelter and I dropped and broke my doll.

One day we were sent from home from school as a bomb had dropped on the Fulwell railway crossing and a number of houses had been bombed and the families killed.

My dad worked at the North Eastern Marine on the docks as a boiler maker and plater, and if there was a raid, the bridge would be turned, and as the men wouldn't be able to get off they had to wait until the raid was over.

War became a way of life. We were given instructions on how to tackle fires. We were supplied a stirrup pump and instructed how to use it. We all had ration books and were allocated a small amount of food each week; it didn't seem to stop us from managing a family party on New Year's Eve. We had a big table, which would extend to seat about thirty people and we would have a wonderful time. Everyone would do their party piece and my cousin would play the piano. My family had a coffee stall in Park Lane and many of the soldiers who were based on the parks would often come to the stall for tea and pies, etc. We got to know some of them quite well, so they were invited to the New Year's party. I remember one of them had a kilt and one of my uncle's swapped his trouser's with the soldier and proceeded to dance round the table singing 'We Are The Boys Of The Old Brigade' with everyone else following him and singing too. These were wonderful days.

As the war went on I felt we would win as we used to listen to Mr Churchill as he gave the country the will to fight and I felt safe in his hands. We would listen to Lord Haw Haw and laugh at the things he said as we knew they were all lies.

As the war in Europe was coming to an end, Mam took me to visit my Aunt Dolly who lived in Sussex. We decided to go to London for the day and the day we went was V.E. Day. It is a day I will never forget. Everyone was was happy and dancing and singing. We went to Buckingham Palace and saw our Royal Family on the balcony and we all cheered. What a wonderful day.

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