大象传媒

[This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Margaret Collinge of Leicestershire Library Services on behalf of Ivy Allen and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.]

During the war, in my late teens, I was working at a bank in Derby, and was in digs in the suburbs with a married lady. Her husband had worked at the same bank, but had been called up for duty overseas, and I was to provide company for her.

The Anderson shelter was at the bottom of the garden, quite a way from the house, and quite a long trip to make when the air raid siren sounded, particularly in the middle of the night. This happened quite often in the town, as the Rolls Royce factory and the railway station were prime targets for the Luftwaffe.

I was reluctant to move from my nice warm bed on these occasions. Although there were always biscuits or cake in the shelter, the benches were very uncomfortable, but the lady of the house insisted on waking me up to go to there with her.

One night, after a particularly long and frightening air raid, we finally emerged from the shelter and I rushed back into the house to get in some sleep before work in the morning. As I was walking back through the garden something heavy fell on my head, and I was quite sure I was going to die.

Looking around me I saw an apple rolling to a stop on the lawn and realised it had fallen from the branches of the apple tree before hitting me on the head!

It took me a long time to recover my composure then, but I can certainly see the funny side of it now!

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