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This story was submitted to the People’s War Site by Rachael Champion for Three Counties Action, on behalf of Robert Albert Forrest, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

At the age of ten my mother had a breakdown. She went into hospital and my Father was left at home but he couldn’t work. As a result, my brother and I were sent away. I went to Middlemore Emigration Homes in Birmingham. I attended Fairbridge Farm Schools in Vancouver Island , then went from Birmingham to Great Maulden but was off school for 12 months because of the diphtheria epidemic. I then went back to Birmingham and went to the Gordon Man Home for Boys in Nottingham. This was a four storey place, and the ground floor was given to the Fire Service. There was a heap of coal and coke in storage which had white marks round the top to make sure it could not be stolen as it was for the fire engines. We put on concerts, there were drills in the backyard and the sirens would sound so we would have to run upstairs, grab a pillow and blanket (all the way up to the top floor), run down again and scramble under the stage until the all clear was given.

We wore a uniform with a number marked on the back to and from school, so the 40-50 boys wouldn’t be lingering. On Sundays we would go to Holy Trinity Church near the town centre and railway, in the evening we went to a different church for evensong. I left school at 14. Boys either worked in the home or went to other homes where you would be paid six pence an hour. Times were hard. This money went to the upkeep of the home. Because some of the Governors belonged to Cadburys, Easter was absolutely fantastic! Mr and Mrs Blake (he was the Bank Manager) would often meet me on the way into work.

I walked from home to home at lunch and would then walk to Mr and Mrs MacNess’s house — which was a big estate with a huge garden. I would meet maids coming out with dirty dishes — they fed me up, and would then give it to the gardeners and feed the chickens too!

My sister was in a girl’s home in Wolverhampton with a Mr and Mrs Brookes. She called them Mum and Pops, my sister found out where I was, and Father went into the Post Office and she was working there. My sister asked if I could live with them, so I had an address and could move out of home and get a job. I did so, and took a job at Berry’s Electric in Birmingham, which was full of women.

I joined the Fleet Air Army one month before my 18th birthday, this helped me towards becoming an Aircraft electrician. I was 22 years old, and once I had done 12 years there would be a better chance of promotion.

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