大象传媒

I was 8 when the war began. I can remember being frightened; we were living in Shirehampton and the planes were trying to bomb the docks so it was not a very good area to live in. My father drove an oil tanker for Esso, so had an important job. My mother was very worried about him driving through country lanes at night as there were no lights.

There were 8 children in my family, 4 boys and 4 girls. My mother decided to send me, my sister and a brother to be evacuated. I can remember being in a church hall and children were being taken to different lodgings. Then we were taken by car to a farm. We were lucky to be kept together.

The farm was in Devon and I can still remember the name of the farmer and the name of the farm. It was at place called Luffincote Barton Holsworthy in Devon.

The farmer had a cider press and a big orchard, so made his own cider. I wandered into this long shed one day and saw all these long barrels with taps on the end. At the beginning of the row was a battered tin cup so I went along the row tasting the contents of each barrel. I was told later I was very drunk and crying for my mother. My mother and father came to visit and were invited to stay for a few days and were made very welcome. We had very good food and were looked after.

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