大象传媒

The memories I am recalling about the Manchester blitz are when I was named Miss Marie Carroll and I lived at 4 Ravensdale Street, Off Grange Street, Rusholme.

Before the war started in 1939 I was a pupil at Clarement Road Senior School for Girls. Only just prior to war being declared I was sent to Ducie Avenue School for Housewifery which should have lasted for a month but we were recalled a week later to Claremont Road to prepare for evacuation - we had to get our gas masks and have labels printed.

The day came when were evacuated - we all met at school, were loaded onto coaches and driven to London Road Station (now called Piccadilly). We boarded the train and then set off but after a short while got off the train at Gatley station less than 5 miles away. We were then marched with our rucksacks and gas masks to Cheadle Village Hall where we were given a carrier bag with a tin of corned beef, biscuits and a large block of chocolate, ration for the day. The billet officer that took our class asked me if I would like to stay with her and I said I would - we were then marched all the way to Boundary Bridge where I stayed at No. 5 Boundary Road with a Mr and Mrs Davis, the others having been dropped off at various houses along the way. Incidentally if we had traveled by coach all the way from Manchester it would have taken only 20 minutes.

We all went to Boundary School, a month mornings and a month afternoons because of all the extra children attending that school. The rest of the time our teachers had to take us on nature walks.

The first Sunday I was at Boundary Road we listened to the radio and at 11 o'clock it was announced that we are at war with Germany.

I stayed at Boundary Road, Cheadle until December when I was sent back home to start work as I was then 14 years old having been there for only three months. The following year (1940) I was working at Oxendales in Granby Row, the year the blitz started.

As usual just prior to Christmas we went with my mum and gran to relatives in Knutsford where my gran used to live (her maiden name being Annie Richardson) to pick up our turkey from a farm. That year we went home earlier than usual because of the air raids and we decided to go back on an earlier train - an aunt of mine accompanied us. After arriving home we had our tea then my aunt said she would have to be going when all of a sudden the sirens went and we all took cover on the cellar steps with cushions, blankets and the dog, the only light being from a candle so my aunt was still with us the next morning. It was very noisy and we could hear the planes and ack ack guns going off but thankfully we were not hurt - not like so many who never saw their Christmas

Incidentally, if we had come home on our usual train we would have been outside Central Station (now G-Mex) in the thick of it all.

I started work at Oxendales in Granby Row and as time went on I joined the Red Cross and passed all my exams. I went on duty every Sunday voluntary at Manchester Royal Infirmary - we also took our collection boxes into cinemas, public houses and on the streets in aid of our armed forces.

Meanwhile I remember a very bad air raid whilst I was at the pictures with my aunt - the cinema was called the Regal Twins on Oxford Road - after the war it became the Studio 1 & 2 - we had not been in there long when the air raid sirens sounded so my aunt decided we should make our way home to Rusholme. There was no transport in operation so we had to walk, dodging in and out of shop doorways along the way whenever we heard shrapnel falling. We got to one place called Kingdom Hall and stayed there for a while - we were given tea and biscuits. As soon as there was a bit of a lull we continued on and thankfully got home without a scratch that was lucky considering all the shrapnel that we encountered.

During the "Whit" blitz it was terrible returning to work and seeing people wandering about in a daze, some with babies in their arms. When we got to work we were sent home for the rest of the week.

With all the raids we were experiencing the wardens and neighbours in our area formed a fire watch committee that organized a rota outlining when when it was out turn to be on duty. When on duty we patrolled the streets in our area looking for fires caused by incendiary bombs until the all clear sounded. We also had to buy appliances - stirrup pumps, hoses, buckets and sand so every Saturday I collected money from the houses in my area.

Time went by and on my 18th birthday I was called up - I wanted to do nursing but I could not get a post in Manchester, only in London. I had to decline as I could not leave my mother.

My commandant at the Red Cross was so indignant that I could not get a post in Manchester after passing all my exams and working voluntary at Manchester Royal Infirmary, especially as there was a shortage of nurses - it just didn't make any sense.

So instead I was sent to Metropolitan Vickers in Trafford Park, Manchester where I worked from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm and two nights a week overtime having to leave home to be on the 6.30 am bus at the corner of Platt Lane and Wilmslow Road.

After having been on fire watch duty all night we still managed to get to work on time the next day.

On D-day during our dinner hour many of us went to a Church in Trafford Park to pray for the safety of our services and allies involved in the invasion. The church was packed, the streets and roads as well.

Throughout the war I continued to do voluntary work at Manchester Royal Infirmary on Sundays and my fire watch when it was my turn on duty.

It was whilst I was working at Metros that I met the man I would later marry - he had been installing navigation lights at the different aerodromes around the country and when that consignment was completed he was sent back to Metros on other war work and that is how we met. In a way the lady that couldn't allow me to nurse at Manchester Royal did me a good turn as if she had been then I would never had met my beloved husband Ken. We were wed in 1947 and were happily married for 52 years having had 5 daughters, 5 grandsons, 5 granddaughters, 4 great granddaughters and 3 great grandsons, another being due in June this year (2004).

Incidentally, after the war I was told that the work I was involved in at Metros was to do with radar and it was top secret.

Marie Wells

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