大象传媒

Living in Greater London, we were not subject to enforced evacuation but my mother and I did spend various periods away from home in an effort to keep us safe. Before he was a milkman, my father was a bus conductor for the City Buses which plied between Kentish Town ( London ) and Southend-on-Sea. At the outbreak of war his driver obtained a job with the 大象传媒 as a driver and was living in Corbridge on Tyne with his wife and family. We joined them for a bit but became homesick and returned home. The Devon police force had offered to take any police families from London so our next trip was to Crediton. This also did not last very long as mum said the man of the house was becoming a bit too friendly so once more it was back to London! The final stay away from home was in 1944. My mother鈥檚 aunt had married a man from Gloucestershire who had come to London to join the police force so we had family connections in the country. My mother鈥檚 eldest sister had two schoolboy sons so at the outbreak of war they moved out of London and found a home in the village and war work in Bristol. My mother and I were visiting when the doodlebugs became very bad and dad told her to leave me in the village if she could find somebody to look after me. On hearing this my aunt decided to give up her job and look after me and also have her mother and my cousin, whose dad was on an aircraft carrier, come to stay from London. I spent the summer term at the village school, where I was made very welcome. I remember harvest time when the local farmers conveniently 鈥渙verlooked鈥� one or two sheaves of corn when making the stooks so when the locals went gleaning they had a good harvest of corn for the chickens they all kept. Whilst in the village I remember one day seeing many gliders go by. Subsequent news made it clear that we had actually seen some of the planes on their way to Arnhem. My parents came to visit for my birthday in September 1944. I remember my mother was very pleased because she had been able to get some semi-sweet biscuits which she had iced on one side as a birthday treat. I wonder what today鈥檚 children would think of that! I was upset when I saw them and cried that I wanted to go home with them. They agreed as the doodlebugs were not so bad but we got back to London just in time for the V2s.

Travelling to the country was quite eventful on occasions. The trains were of course somewhat erratic and one time when my parents arrived at Paddington they could not see any train for Badminton signalled. They asked one of the porters who pointed to a train that was shortly to depart. When they said it did not show Badminton as a stop, he explained that when the Duke of Beaufort had permitted the lines to cross his land it was with the proviso that the trains would always stop there if anybody wanted to get on or off. Somewhat doubtful, my parents boarded the train since they knew the next scheduled stop after Swindon was somewhere in Wales. Sure enough the train did stop for them. The stationmaster resplendent in his full regalia, including top hat., came out of his office to see which important visitors had arrived but soon disappeared at the sight of my parents clutching their things for the weekend in a couple of carrier bags!

On another occasion when my mother and I were already visiting my aunt, my dad came down to see us. He arrived at Badminton station only to find the cab from the village had failed to turn up to collect him. It was a five mile walk but he decided to set out. On the way he was uncertain he was taking the correct route since all signposts had been removed to confuse the enemy. He spotted a man cutting a hedge in company with an elderly lady. Dad queried with the man about the correct route but he ignored him. However the lady turned around and to dad鈥檚 consternation he realised it was Queen Mary who spent part of the war at Badminton House as I believe the then Duchess of Beaufort was her niece. She charmingly directed dad but he said he knew exactly what people meant when they said they wished the ground had opened up and swallowed him.

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