大象传媒

I was 20 years old when the war started. It was a sunday and Neville Chamberlain had just returned from Germany we listened on the radio to a speech that he made and we were told that everything was alright. Which it wasn't. We always used to listen to the radio. Not long after, I remember being at work at Halls factory in Canada Street Belper. I think it was during the week and they said on the radio that war was declared. I remember one girl Alma Macarthur sat down and prayed because she had got brothers who would have to go war. Everyone was upset but we had to continue with our work. We didn't really know what it meant at the time.

We were soon issued with gas masks, they were delivered to the village hall and we all had to go and collect them.

The masks were kept in a cardboard box with string on it and you put it round your neck. We took the gas masks with us everywhere we went, even to bed. We did this for about a week or two and then realised that the threat of being gassed was not that great. We tended to keep them at home after that.

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