大象传媒

I was born on 29 May 1933 in number 4 Providence Cottage at Lydd, Kent.

Some of my early childhood years were spent in accommodation above a cafe run by my father and mother in Park Road.

I clearly remember the 11:15 am radio broadcast on 3 September 1939 by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in which he gravely said "since no such undertaking has been received from Herr Hitler, I have to tell you now that the country is at war with Germany".

Having reached the requisite age in 1938, I attended the Church of England Primary school in Lydd where, approximately one year later, I disappointingly suffered what has remained a fond What if" memory excited by the slim prospect of evacuation to Canada (Where I would become a sheriff). This feeling was dulled by the consolatory presentation of an imitation leather wallet.

Since my father was posted to numerous Army camps in various parts of England prior to departure for France on 18 June 1944, I was subjected to a somewhat nomadic school career, attending 15 primary and junior establishments and culminating with my entry to Ashford (Kent) Grammar school in September 1944.

Our first billet, in late 1939, was at Ludgershall in Wiltshire, where our living quarters were one end of a Quonset Hut.

In 1940, with my family, we moved to Haslemere in Hampshire, or more particularly a farm ion the village of Beacon Hill. The child of the house, a very lazy girl was always demanding money from her mother and used to sit on the stairs waiting for her shoelaces to be tied, reading the Beano (Ordered for my sister and me) before reluctantly going to school.

The harsh winter of that year found us on a smallholding at Penkridge in Staffordshire; the 4 members of the Kitchener family having to share a bed was hardship enough but it was also the place where my sister contracted impetigo.

In 1941, the Outhwaite family were our hosts at Knaresborough, Yorkshire, where one of my father's superior officers was Lord George Scott, brother of the Duchess of Gloucester. On one occasion we went to a local teashop with the family twins Dennis and Donald and one of them discovered a 6d tip under a plate, He called out loudly to a waitress "Hay, Miss, I've found a tanner on the Table".

Later that year we moved to Langdale Terrace in Whitby where Miss Hooper, the house owner, though stone deaf, looked after us extremely well. Her iron railings along with here neighbour's; and contrary to the situation in many parts of the country, had not been removed to be melted down towards the productions of munitions. Whilst there I suffered from very sore heels, - I can't remember the cause - and was treated by the Regimental Doctor Captain Mitchell. My fathers "boss" was Major Garcia, who bore a very strong resemblance to Joe Loss.

From Whitby we travelled south to Plumpton in Sussex early in 1942 and were billeted in a cottage close by the national hunt racecourse. It was here that I received a penknife for my 9th birthday. The cottage was owned by the Banks family and had a walnut tree in the front garden. One day, whilst walking along the side of a field with my family, I slipped off a makeshift bridge onto a ditch full of water. The water only came up to my waist but, unfortunately, I was wearing a brand new suit.

Later in the year we went back to Yorkshire, this time to Nawton, a village between Pickering and Kirby Moorside. Spending only a relatively short time here we moved to Bridlington and, during an intervening rail journey, my mother, sister and I had to change trains at York. Enduring a considerable delay we were privileged to be looked after by soldiers in the station guard room where we enjoyed bot "buttered" toast in front of a blazing fire.

In 1943 we were accommodated in 2 properties, the first belonging to Mrs Mallinson and the second to Mrs. Mottram. Bridlington was where the famous black bull of the 7th Armoured division first appeared on Military vehicles and one day I saw Field Marshal Montgomery riding on a Churchhill tank during a parade though the town. As I contracted mumps I was only allowed outside the house as far as the front gate, but I remember watching, with undisguised pleasure, the passage of some fellow pupils on their way to school. During the approximately 9 months we spent at Bridlington were were privileged to be able to attend some ENSA concerts, among the 'stars' being Dorothy Squires and Vera Lynn.

Chippenham in Cambridgeshire. in 1944 was our next stop and the family name was Smalley, the head of which ran a barber's shop. Taking the train north on a visit to relations in Yorkshire I remember it being halted at Peterborough for about an hour whilst an air raid took place.

Turning south west wards on our near countryside tour, we the found ourselves at Crockerton near Warminster in Wiltshire, where I recall weeks of fine sunny and warm weather. Into Dorset next, to West Moors in fact, and staying on a smallholding owned by a family named Hyde. Mr Hyde had a wonderful aviary of budgerigars and he was very kind when I fell one day and cut open my left hand on some roadside gravel. Binding ?the flap? securely with a bandage was so effective that no stitches were required and, some 60 years later, I have only a small scar on my palm.

I spent about a month with my grandparents at Lydd during the time the remainder of my family were located at Thetford in Norfolk. During this period German Aircraft made several raids on Kent and, one day, a lone Dornier 17 cannon-shelled the wooden fence and the bottom of their garden.

My ?Nan? and I sheltered under the dining table but I was more concerned for the Meccano on it than for our own safety. On another occasion a raider jettisoned a mine on a nearby field; a horse subsequently stepped on it and the resultant corpse stank to high heaven for several days before it's removal. There was an Anderson shelter in the front garden in which my grandmother attempted to grow mushrooms and store onions. A Bofors gun battery had been placed in an adjacent field but I don't recall hearing the guns in action more than a couple of times although their presence was re-assuring.

A sixpence had quite significant purchase power and I would accept one from my grandfather to buy for him a paper packet of 5 woodbine cigarettes (41/2 d) and a box of matches (1/2d) ? the 1d change would be mine.

Other wartime Lydd memories :-
Gazing without fear at vapour trails from dogfights during the Battle of Britain.
Obtaining six fresh bread rolls for 9d from the bakery where my aunt Florrie worked.
ENSA concerts at Lydd Camp where we enjoyed the performances of Nervo & Knox, Collinson & Breen, Arthur Haynes and Charlie Chester.

My Grandfather mounting his bike to go to work at Lydd Camp by putting his left foot onto a kind of step attached to the rear wheel, ?scooting? for a distance and then throwing his right leg over the crossbar and onto the pedal.

Pea green was the only colour of paint for the model yacht I constructed in his shed and subsequently disappointed that the boat didn't sail properly.

Sleeping on 2 chairs pulled together in my grandmothers front room when an Uncle came home from the Middle East.

The first reported appearance of a doodle-bug over Lydd. I was informed the following morning, along with others , by a boy whose father was the local police Sergeant (therefore it must be true!) that a plane with no pilot had flown over the town last night. Naturally we all pooh-poohed the statement, but of course later events verified this and whenever the unmistakable sound of a flying-bombs engine was heard every local person wished, uncharitably, that it would keep on going.

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