大象传媒

I was five years old in January 1939 and lived with my parents in their Guest House in Ramsgate on the Kent coast. In July 1939, my parents gave a home in return for domestic services to a German Jewess, Agathe. I still have the letter arranging this from the Central Office for Refugees (Domestic Bureau). Agathe and her husband Hans, a civil engineer, escaped from Nazi Germany, together with members of her family. They were delightful , well educated people. Hans was lodged in the Refugee Camp at Richborough, just outside Ramsgate. They stayed with us for several months until civilian personnel were evacuated from the coast towns because of the threat of invasion. My parents also had two groups of soldiers billeted on us before they were sent abroad. On my birthday, some of them clubbed together to buy me a small gold ring. I think this was a "thank you" to my parents who had looked after them so well.

I have a very vivid memory of standing on top of the WestCliff overlooking Ramsgate Harbour, holding my Mother's hand and watching the little boats come across the English Channel, having collected our troops from the Dunkirk beaches. The coaches coming up from the Harbour towards us were full of soldiers, some just wrapped in a blanket. My Infant School was closed to the pupils, but served as a Reception Centre, where the people of the town contributed tea, coffee, clothes etc., for the troops, before going to Ramsgate Station then to Victoria Station in London. I shall always have that mental picture and still feel so proud that so many were rescued against all odds.

Then came the Battle of Britain over the Kentish skies. Hawkinge aerodrome, just outside Folkestone, was the nearest serving aerodrome to the French coast. For good reason was this part of Kent was known as "Hellfire Corner". My Mother took me away from Ramsgate, as did so many families, to what she thought was a safer place than the Kent coast with the threat of invasion. She took me to her parent's home in South London, just in time for the London Blitz!! My father passed A1 for the Royal Navy, and was very wretched because he was in a "reserved occupation" and not allowed to go to war. He joined the Auxilliary Fire Service for night duty and had several near escapes on the fire tender at Manston aerodrome. He also played the drums in a dance band on Friday evenings, for the troops and local people.

School commenced after a temporary break, and I settled down to life in London during the Blitz. We frequently went into the air raid shelters at school when the sirens sounded. I do remember various school friends losing their fathers who had been called up. In Assembly one morning, we were singing "Eternal Father Strong to Save", and one girl had to be escorted out in tears, as that very morning her family had been notified that the submarine in which her father served was reported as missing. No counselling in those days for us. Sometimes friends did not appear at school in the morning because their homes had been destroyed by bombs. We seemed to take in all in our stride, probably because children are so resillient. I did not experience great fear of the bombing, probably becuase we got so used to it, but once the V1 and the V2 bombs arrived over our English skies, I remember feeling great fear, as by this time I was ten years old. Despite the fact that the Kent coast was subjected to shelling from the Germans in France, she took me back to Ramsgate, where we did feel safer. When VE Day arrived, it was the most wonderful feeling of relief. On 8th May, 1945, my school went to a Thanksgiving Service in our local church, and then we had the rest of the day off. This time, overlooking Ramsgate Harbour, there were lights and cheering crowds all rejoicing at the end of these six years of war. I look back on it now with great pride for our United Kingdom, and all those who gave their lives for our freedom. 11th November is a very special day for me and to so many who lived though those years.

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