大象传媒

Dorothy Coombes told her story to Wyn Briggs at Summerlands Nursing Home in Westgate on Sea, Kent.

I was a Clippie on the buses in Kent during the war. We went on different routes each day 鈥� Hastings, Canterbury, Dover and Deal. If I was on an early shift I used to cycle from Acol to the Westwood bus station. When the bus went through Manston aerodrome everyone had to show their pass 鈥� you could not just go through. The wages per week was 拢2.10s which was the same for men and women. The bus crews had a social club at Westwood and we had trips out. We would visit the Fire Station and Police Station to play darts, shove half-penny and cards. We also had great fun sliding down the fireman鈥檚 pole which took you down 3 floors!

We were still able to go to Minnis Bay to the beach 鈥� it was not out of bounds. People used to cycle down there and swim and I particularly remember going at midnight when there was a full moon!

When there was an air-raid the bus had to stop and people had to find the nearest shelter. One day the bus stopped for an air-raid warning in Acol and everybody took refuge in our family鈥檚 dug-out shelter in our garden. This was an enormous shelter and even had a special place for the baby鈥檚 cot. Before this was built we all went up to the shelter in Quex Park in Birchington. We used to take our pillow and blanket and one day we took some children鈥檚 comics which we couldn鈥檛 wait to share with everyone. In fact we were very lucky at Acol as we didn鈥檛 have any bomb damage there even though there was such a lot of activity around Manston and the coastal towns.

When we took the bus route to Sandwich there were a lot of soldiers stationed there on the Sandwich Flats. The buses didn鈥檛 have doors in those days and while I was upstairs taking fares lots of soldiers jumped on downstairs even though we were full. I thought they would get me into trouble and then one bright spark at the back shouted 鈥淲hat time d鈥檡ou finish Miss?鈥�

One of the older bus conductresses was tied up by the soldiers as a practical joke. They left her downstairs in the bus where luggage was stored. The bus driver didn鈥檛 realise until they stopped and, because she did not ring the bell to drive on, he got out of his cab to investigate.

The children went to school for 3 hours in the morning to the Vicar鈥檚 School at Church House in Birchington as the main schools had closed down. If we were naughty the Vicar made us write the 23rd Psalm in our best writing.

I remember a raid at Cecil Square in Margate when a bomb made a direct hit on the Regal cinema and damage to the Hippodrome. I particularly remember because the film on show that night was called 鈥淭arget for tonight鈥�.

I knew a gardener who worked at Holy Trinity Church in Margate and he used to have his lunch in the grounds round the back of the church. I was on the bus from Margate to Wingham and when we arrived at our destination I heard that the church had been bombed. We enquired if anyone had been hurt but luckily that day the gardener had gone to the pub for his lunch!

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