大象传媒

When the War started I was working in the Victoria & Yardley laundry. It was a very small laundry near to my home. They did the washing for the Army and Air force personel billeted nearby . Only 20 or so worked there.

At Castle Bromwich

I was then sent to work at Vickers Armstrong at Castle Bromwich. It was there where I built and wired instrument and ignition panels for the Lancaster Bombers. The Spitfires and Merlins were being built in a different block.

One day my boss sent me down to the end of the inside of a Lancaster to fit some panels. I didn鈥檛 like working inside the plane it was very claustraphobic, I fell down the steps trying to get out quickly.The noise in the shop was horrendous 鈥� lots of us had our hearing affected (I was deafened in my right ear it's still the same to this day).The engines were tested and this created a lot of noise 鈥� it was horrible.

The hospital was in Q block 鈥� I went one lunch time to have my fingers lanced. This was caused by the wires which had penetrated the skin and had become infected. The infection was cut out and I was then sent straight back to work!"No slacking at those times".

I worked mainly with men. However, when I first began the work another lady was there 鈥� but she left soon afterwards. I think she was pregnant.

At lunch time we used to go in the canteen for a hot dinner. Sometimes there was a special 鈥� like Salmon in between bread and fried! I used to take sandwiches 鈥� I used to swap sandwiches. One of my mates didn鈥檛 like fish paste 鈥� so he would swap his fish paste for one of my cheese sandwiches!

We sometimes started work at 7am in the morning and worked weekends. We used to catch a special bus at Lea Hall to take us to work at 6.30am. The pay wasn鈥檛 much!

Air Raids

Many nights we got home and went straight down the shelter. I was in the shelter with my Mum and Dad and my sisters and brothers. Sometimes Gran was in the shelter with us - but they lived in Small Heath and moved in with us when the air raids started.

Bombs dropped all round us. Beatty (my sister in law) her dad had his leg blown off and they took him in to a hospital (under Lewis鈥檚 A large City Centre store). Beatty worked in the airport 鈥� serving teas. The Germans bombed very near to Whittington Oval school in Yardley Birmingham and a land mine was dropped on maisonettes 鈥� lots of children were killed. It was terrible. Another was dropped near the church.

One night a land mine was dropped and you could feel Vibrations going under the shelter. A big bertha (an anti air craftgun) was based at Kitts Green. It used to shake everything when it was fired.

One night we all went to bed and then bombs started to fall. You could hear them whistling - a screaming noise. We all flew out bed and all met on the landing! Then we all went down the shelter. The shelter was in the middle of the garden.

After each air raid 鈥� you would look on the list at the police station to see who the casualties were. Lots of familes were hit by bombs. Many people lost their legs. One lady lost both of her legs.

Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Hughie were bombed out 鈥� they lived in a place called the Terrace very near to the Blues football Ground. They were lucky to get out, they sheltered in their cellar during the raid and when they came out all theirs and nearby houses were gone,They then went to the tram depot as they had air raid shelters for workers and travellers Uncle Hughie's only possesion now was his money box. Many, many people died during that air raid .

In the shelter we put up bunk beds. and some of the family slept on the floor. It was so cold we took the mats out of the lounge and put them on the floor of the shelter. The kids sometimes went to sleep and other times they would be awake for a long time. We spent lots of time in the shelter 鈥� rather than having to jump out of bed.

Dad would say 鈥渁ye 鈥� aye鈥� its coming. It was very very frightening. Sometimes the bombs came so very close 鈥� we all thought we鈥檇 had it.

A German Aircraft crashed鈥� just down the road from our house 鈥� on the railway lines. We didn鈥檛 hear what happened to the pilot . We ran up to see the wreck 鈥� and a man came riding bye on a bike coming away from the crash. It may have been one of the German pilots on a stolen bike as the man was in uniform and leaving the crash site, A police man would have been going towards it.
The German planes used to dive and shoot at people 鈥� even in the day time 鈥� one day when we were shopping! My friend and I dived down an alley to escape the shooting.

Nellie, my Sister, worked in a local biscuit factory. One day she went to work and the factory had been bombed during the night there was nothing left of the buildings. Her next job was at the local snooker hall where they were making camouflage sheeting for lorries. She had to jump up on to a high table where the cutting and shaping took place!

My brothers Alex, Stanley, Ernie and Sister Jean were evacuated to Loughborough. Alex was split from the others 鈥� he went to a different home. The family who were looking after him wanted to keep him but of course that was out of the question.

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