大象传媒

During my early life, all I could remember was war. I lived in inner-city Birmingham, next to St Andrews, an intense factory area. Saltley and Small Heath鈥檚 marshalling yards were only a mile or so away on main railway lines and was an obvious Luftwaffe target.

Of my early memories - I looked forward to my uncle coming home on leave 鈥� it was good when Uncle Harry came home. He was in his early twenties at that time. My dad was an ex-regular soldier who was in a reserved occupation and was also an active ARP warden. He worked all day and was on ARP duty as soon as he got home in the evenings. Mum stayed at home to look after three children and to take care of things domestically. The ARP wardens used to organise concerts held in the local church hall to raise money for the Red Cross. We used to enjoy these, except that they used to give us coffee to drink 鈥� that put me off drinking coffee for many years, I couldn鈥檛 stand the smell of the stuff! Then we used to walk home in the dark, I didn鈥檛 know what a street lamp was until I was about 10 years old.

When I started school in 1940, that鈥檚 when the bombing started in a bad way. The local children could have been evacuated 鈥� the whole school went to Bromyard on the train and getting off on the platform seemed just like going into a cattle market. There was a rush for the older children - who could work - and we little ones didn鈥檛 come into that category. My sister, aged 8, was lucky 鈥� she was billeted with a police sergeant鈥檚 family who wanted a companion for their daughter. Nobody wanted me - a four-year-old standing at the end of the platform! Eventually I was taken by a family but my mum didn鈥檛 like the look and condition of the house, which didn鈥檛 come up to her standards. Our home in Birmingham was really clean and my early memories are of the strong smell of disinfectant 鈥� the house in Bromyard wasn鈥檛 like that! So my mum took me back home to Birmingham the next day. But the experience of standing on the railway station, and nobody wanting me, will stay with me for the rest of my life. However, not all evacuees were happy and the stories of children having a good time during their stay in the country were not always true. Many returned home after only a short time in their evacuee billet.

My next memory was of the air raid shelter we used. This was half-buried in the ground with a main entrance and an escape hatch at the opposite end. It reminded me, as a child, of a submarine. When twenty or thirty people were crammed in side the atmosphere became very claustrophobic and the air quality was poor.

One incident I remember well was when bombs were dropping. We heard one come down very close to the shelter 鈥� it was a delayed action anti-personnel bomb which we heard land, and then roll towards the shelter with a clonkety clonkety clonkety sound. This bomb finished up inches away from us and we had to leave the shelter through the escape hatch in a great hurry. One woman got stuck in the hatch 鈥� it was very frightening and people had to push her up and out before we could all get out. Luckily the bomb didn鈥檛 go off, but if it had, the consequences would have been very serious indeed. There is no doubt that I wouldn鈥檛 be here now. But no matter how bad the previous day鈥檚 or night鈥檚 experiences were, we still went to school the next day. War, and the effects of war, had become a day to day way of life for all of us.

One more thing I remember. I think it was in 1941 when we had a real snowfall and the shelter looked just like an iced cake. My father took me out one evening when the snow was around and we looked up into a clear sky and saw what looked to me like lots of fish 鈥� but these were actually German aeroplanes milling round waiting to start bombing. We soon got a move on back to the safety of the shelter!

Christmas time was special for me. We had all the usual carols and build-up at school but how parents were able to donate cakes, jellies and suchlike in those times I just don鈥檛 know! Coloured paper of any kind was kept and treasured 鈥� such was used to make the Christmas decorations. We even had paper chains made out of newspaper. The family clubbed together for Christmas day and Boxing Day dinners and my dad worked two small allotments so that we had plenty of vegetables to eat. My mum used to give the milkman鈥檚 horse a carrot or two off dad鈥檚 allotment. The horse knew what was coming and sometimes got rather unruly when the milk dray arrived near our house. Christmas times at home and around the piano were fabulous 鈥� you don鈥檛 get Christmases like that these days.

D.Day has strong memories for me and I can remember exactly what I was doing and where I was on that day. My aunt was working in a sanatorium in Knightwick, near Worcester, and we used to go and stay there for a holiday when my mum used to go and help out with my aunt鈥檚 family. We used to get Canadian Forces News at 11am and on this particular day I was in the garden chopping firewood when my grandmother came out of the house. She was crying and I asked her why. She said there was a big battle going on in France and my uncle Jack was there. (It was actually the next day when he went over). I鈥檝e never forgotten that moment.
D.Day was the first day I ever experienced a bonfire party. Then, going to see the streetlights being switched on and people were standing around waiting for the event to happen! I thought this was marvellous as, as I鈥檝e already said, I鈥檇 never before seen a street light and we walked everywhere in the dark.

Coming to the end of the war, people were collecting money for street parties and I asked my mum why the atmosphere had changed around us. She said 鈥渨e鈥檙e at peace now鈥� 鈥� I said 鈥渨hat鈥檚 peace鈥�? 鈥� simply because I didn鈥檛 know what peace was, knowing only warfare through my childhood.

I鈥檒l finish on a humorous note. Where we lived was a `concrete jungle鈥� and the only grass around was at St Andrews Football Ground. We found a hole in the fence that got us into the ground; so naturally, as boys will be boys, we went and played football on the pitch. The groundsman was Harry Green, who lived on the premises (the club shop鈥檚 there now, where his house was). He鈥檇 come shouting and running down the terraces and we鈥檇 run away and get back under the fence. These escapades went on for a month or two, until one day when a sergeant from the local police station was standing on the other side of the hole. Each one of us got a thumping great smack on the backside and to make matters worse, the sergeant used the same social club as my dad and when he鈥檇 been told what had happened, I got another one! This was Law and Order in action and it didn鈥檛 do me any harm!

Dictated to John Noon on 9th and 15th December 2003.

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