大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Pat Hayward of CSV Action Desk and has been added to the site with my permission. I understand fully the sites terms and conditions.

I was born in Percy Road Sparkhill July 1936 and in 1937 we moved to a back to back in Baker Street/ St Johns Road. The day before war was declared we moved to Allcroft Road Hall Green. We lived next to the Midland Gear Case Factory, and before we had our own garden shelter we used a very large shelter under these premises. Many people from the neighbourhood used this when the air raids started 1940/41. I could be standing in a bowl of warm water placed on a chair in front of the fire having a strip-off wash, and the siren would go and my mother would quickly dry and dress me and off we went to the shelter. There were racks of benches all over the shelter and families would all sit together in the dark all very frightened. One night the factory had a direct bomb hit and the water mains burst and water rose very quickly. A young female neighbour grabbed me without my mom knowing and carried me much further up the road to another air raid shelter where we stayed for the rest of the night. My mom searched for me all night and thought I was dead. She was devastated, I was missing for 14 hours. All my mom鈥檚 family from Sparkhill arrived the next morning thinking Mom and I had died in the bombing. I was found the next morning safe and well, my mom always said her hair turned white that night. When we went home an incendiary bomb had come through the roof of our house and when you stood at the bottom of the stairs you looked up and could see the sky. We found large pieces of shrapnel all over the garden which was kept on our bathroom shelf for years.

We could not stay in the house so that day we caught a Midland Red bus to Cheltenham- all I had was a small bag of clothes and my two dolls, Valerie was a white doll and Margaret a black one. As I was getting off the bus I dropped Valerie and her one leg broke off- I kept her for many years like that! No dolls hospital then! We got a local bus to Burford and stayed for several months in a tiny cottage with an old couple who were distant relatives. We lived in an attic with just a wooden pair of steps leading up to it. There was no inside water- it all come from water-butt in the garden. We had strange things to eat like young lambs鈥� tails. The day after we arrived a German plane crashed in the field opposite- the pilot died in it.

We came home a few months later and I caught whooping cough and double pneumonia and I was taken to Little Bromwich fever hospital where I stayed for six months. We slept outside even though it was winter. I was only allowed to see my mom on a Sunday and she had to wear a mask and gown. I always cried when she left I felt so lonely. Sometimes my mom would get 3 buses to leave me a cake at the entrance- she was never allowed to see me except on Sundays.

After I recuperated the school re-opened so I started school and I joined a great Brownie pack, I was in the fairies- 鈥淲e are fairies bright and gay, helping people every day鈥� was our motto. During this time I was chosen to learn Polish dancing alongside some older Brownies and we had Polish outfits made for us. Every Saturday we went to Dame Elizabeth Cadbury鈥檚 Manor house in Northfields to entertain wounded Polish soldiers and we had tea with them afterwards which was great for the house and gardens were beautiful.

The end of the war was declared on a Monday so I think the next day we had a large party in Forman鈥檚 Road Sparkhill. Long tables down the middle, jellies and blancmanges, and sandwiches, and cakes for all us children. A large bonfire was lit at night and someone鈥檚 piano was carried out of the front room into the street for a sing-song and dancing. It was wonderful all the children wore red white and blue paper outfits. My lasting memory is of my cousin who was eight standing at her bedroom window dressed in a paper dress- she couldn鈥檛 join in the celebrations- she had mumps!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.