大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by CSV/大象传媒 Radio Nottingham on behalf of Audrey Robinson with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

On the night War was declared the sirens went. My parents not knowing what to expect got us out of bed, and wrapped us up. My brother and me in blankets. After sometime the 'all clear' sounded and we went back to bed. The next night the sirens went and it was the same procedure. When it happened again they left us to sleep. Fortunately we never had to get up again.
I was a few days short of my 6th birthday and what really sticks in my memory is being given a gas mask at school, but as I was so young it was taken home for me by an older girl. Arriving home I ran in saying, "did Marion bring my gas mask ?" and promptly fell into tears, only to see my mum was crying too. Why I was not trusted to take it home I can't imagine as I had to carry it everywhere for the next few years.
Blackout was introduced. We had to have black out curtains to the windows and not let any light show outside. Street lamps and shop window lights were turned off and vehicles had dimmed head lights, even torches and cycle lamps were partially covered. We children semed to be able to see better in the dark than adults and often steered them fromlamp posts and kerb edges.
In January 1941 the Manor Room in Teversal village was reopened as a school. Evacuees came into the area - 36 of them. Two classes were in there for the very young children and some of the teachers who came from Birmingham with the refugees.
We had scatter practises too, where an older child would come into the classroom - shout 'scatter' - and we had to run to our alloted places, to houses in the village and some under a large solid table in the classroom. Gas Mask practise also took place. We had to put our gas masks on as quickly as possible.
Some of the evcues settled into their new homes, but some didn't and sometimes the adults taking them in found it very hard indeed. In July 1942, the Manor Room was closed so perhaps most of the children went back home, although a few stayed until the end of the war. One girl was Jean Griggs who came to live next door to us and we became friends.
When War was immenent people bought extra tinned food to save, but as money was short these few extras didn't last long. It had always been the practise of my parents to visit my mothers sister on alternate Sundays for tea, and they came to us for the other Sundays, when we always had salmon - a luxury - but as food became rationed in 1940 these sunday teatimes were abandoned.
Ration books were issued and continued until 1954. Identity cards, without a photo, were issued too.
My dad was a miner and this was a reserved occupation and he didn't have to join the forces. Men and young lads of 18 years and over were 'called up' and had to choose between working in the mines or going into the forces. Those choosing the mines were called 'Bevin Boys', so called after the Minister of production, Ernest Bevin, a lot came from this area.
A camp was built at Hardwick where paratroopers trained. We watched as they jumped from the planes and glided to the ground. Sometimes we saw barrage balloons there too. I think I am right in saying all the paratroops came to this camp to train.
A very sad day I remember was when out teacher Miss. Wood had news her brother had been killed. He was killed in an aircraft accident in July 1942. My cousin was drowned at sea too.
As War progressed Italian prisoners of War were brought to work on the land. They wore brown overall type clothing with large round patches of other colours sewn into them. I think they were glad to be here away from the fighting. At one time a few came to the field next to our school to 'talk' to us, but when the headmistress, Miss. Tucker, found out it was stopped, and rightly so. Two Italian orisoners came to work on Dunsil Farm near to my home. Nice men they were too. There was also a landgirl working there and after the War, Joseph one of the prisoners came back to England and maried her.
We could often hear the noise of the German planes going over Sheffield to bomb the city. We would stand on the back yard watching the search lights picking them up. One night the German planes were circling overhead for sometime. I went outside with my dad and I could tell he was worried. When I sked him why he said for some reason the planes couldn't find their target that night, and if they became short on fuel and picked up the headstocks on the colliery opposit our house they would try to bomb that. After a while they headed North and we could se the sky light up as they found their target. Lucky for us but not for Sheffield.
We were also lucky on another night when one of our planes crashed only a few yards from us. The pilot had bailed out and the plane flew on only missing the headstocks and a house whose walls were splattered with mud when it crashed.
Mrs. Woodall, a farmers wife showed me the case of a bomb which landed in their field and Hardwick was bombed, without any damage, when the German pilot mistook the moonshine in the lake for lights.
One of our neighburs was taken prisoner by the Italians, in the War, and later marched all the way to Germany. At the end of the War, he was freed and came home. He was not brought to the door by transport but had to make his own way. He walked up the lane from the Carnarvon Arms. I can see him now as he came passed our house - he was like a skeleton. People didn't have phones in those days and his family spent days taking it in turn to watch for him coming. He was reluctant to say too mucj about his imprisonment, he did tell a fewthings, but his wife said he would scream out in the night from his nightmares. When the War ended in 1945, it didn't really end for our family as my brother was sent to Palestine when all the fighting and trouble took place there. But thats another story.

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