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This story was submitted to the People’s War website by a volunteer from Hastings Library on behalf of Rita Clarke and has been added to this site with her permission.

Spring 1940

I was four years old and playing with my doll’s pram at the bottom of the garden at 37 Hughenden Road, Hastings. I heard a spluttering noise above my head. When I looked up I saw a strange object with a man in it. It hovered and I could see the man looking at me and I was looking at him. At that moment my mother came rushing out calling my name. She picked me up, took me indoors and put me in the cupboard under the stairs where there was a mattress, blanket and torch — a makeshift air raid shelter. She had told me we must go straight indoors if we heard the sirens.

Summer 1940

We were evacuated as a family because my father had a duodenal ulcer and was exempt from being called up. We were not allowed to take any pets and they all had to be put to sleep. Mr Gillis the greengrocer took us to Hastings Station in the back of his van. On arrival at the platform I dropped my bag of liquorice comfits all over the ground. There was no time to pick them up as the train arrived. On the train a kind lady gave me another bag of sweets. No one knew where the train was going. It was a non-corridor train and only stopped once. We had to jump out and go to the toilet wherever we could! We arrived at Burnham-on-Sea where we were taken to the Town Hall. Because we were a family group they were unable to find a billet for us. We were taken home by the Air Raid Warden and slept the night on his front room floor. The next day my father found us lodgings above a newsagents. There were two rooms both of which had glass skylights. At night my brother and I could watch the searchlights and hear the sirens and the sound of the planes!

My father was ordered to go to Bristol and work on war damage. We didn’t stay in the flat long, as my mother disliked the danger of the glass skylights so we soon found other lodgings. I started school in Burnham-on-Sea. There were so many evacuees that we were only able to go for half days. I went in the mornings. Nearly all the children had nits in their hair (including me) and a lot of them were covered in sores and bandages.

We had one Christmas in Burnham and then my father was sent to work at Twyford Aerodrome near Reading. He found accommodation for us at the Five Bells pub in Riseley. During our stay the landlord, Mr Nolan, taught me to play darts (my first dart scored a Bullseye!). He also gave me the job of tearing newspaper into squares and threading it on string to be used as toilet paper. He had a large ginger handlebar moustache, which tickled terribly when I kissed him at bedtime. How I dreaded it!

In 1942 we moved down the road to live with Mr and Mrs Smith in a thatched cottage which had lots of spiders! We went to school in the Village Hall, which was nothing more than a corrugated iron hut. My mother and Mrs Wenham scrubbed the hall because it was so dirty. We children had to sit on the floor as there were no chairs or tables. A curtain divided the hall into two classrooms. A party was held for the evacuees and I won a little doll in the raffle with ticket number 4. I still have the doll. At Christmas Mr Smith dressed up as Father Christmas and we had a lovely time.

We met a family called Hoare with three children — John, Dudley and Pat. We became great friends. We roamed the woods and picked flowers, blackberries and nuts. We built a den made of branches and ferns. It looked like a big igloo and was covered with ferns to hide it. It was our secret place. One day we were out walking and got thirsty. The boys knew where there was a well and because Pat was taller than me they held her by the ankles headfirst down the well to get some water in a bottle. Another day we were climbing trees and being the smallest they pulled me up behind them. My knickers were caught on a branch and almost torn off! My mother was not pleased as clothes were on coupons! At Weekends we would walk across Heckfield Common to the Wellington Monument. The Duke of Wellington’s home, Stratfield Saye was nearby.

In 1943 we moved to Wyvols Court, a country mansion in the nearby village of Swallowfield. We had the stableman’s quarters at the rear of the house. There was a massive front door with a key so large my mother had to hide it when we went out as it was too heavy to carry! We had a bedroom, which we all shared, and a living room with a great big black stove. The water had to be pumped from the yard and we had oil lamps. My bed was a camp bed and I had to have my mother's coat over me as we didn't have enough blankets. There was no toilet but we were allowed to use a toilet at the side of the house. Water had to be pumped for an hour a day to fill the tank, which flushed the toilet. At night we had to make do with buckets.

Wyvols Court was owned by Mrs Waterers. She was very kind to me and let me play with a doll’s pram that once belonged to her daughter. Mr Oliver ran the estate with the help of Beryl the Land Girl. There was a big carthorse; a donkey called Oliver and a pet wallaby! He lived in an enclosure in the orchard. One day he escaped and was found in Doctor Beattie’s garden. Mr Oliver gave us two cats, Timmy and Betty.

My father was in the local Fire Brigade — they didn’t have a Fire Engine! They met once a week at the pub. Once when he was out we were at home with my mother. It was very dark and scary at night. On this particular evening the door latch started going up and down as though someone was trying to get in. My mother peeped out of the window and saw two big green eyes staring at her. It was Timmy the cat asking to come in! After that he always asked to come in that way.

Every year when the shallots were in season my mother would sit in the courtyard wearing her gas mask to pickle the onions.

We used to go to Reading on the bus and always passed the Huntley and Palmer’s biscuit factory. There were two figures of guardsmen, one either side of the main door which I loved to look at. One day my mother took me to see an afternoon show starring Elsie and Doris Waters. On our way out there was an air raid and we had to go into a shelter.

The food was very poor. We had to give up taking sugar to make the rations go round. We were lucky to be able to have the windfall fruit from the orchard. I loved to play in the orchard with the wallaby as my friend. When Mrs Waterers’ son and daughter came home on leave, they took me for a drive round the estate in a trap pulled by Oliver the donkey.

While at Swallowfield I attended Riseley School with my brother. There were three classrooms. It was a long walk to school and we set off early in the morning. We were late one day because I wouldn’t pass a herd of cows and my brother was caned for this.

Winter 1944

We returned to Hastings a few days before Christmas in 1944. My mother told us there would be no toys for Christmas that year but she filled my pillowcase with all her old books, which I loved. The house was in a terrible mess and my mother worked hard to make it clean and tidy. The first time my mother took me into Hastings we saw bomb damage and piles of rubbish everywhere. The doorway of the York Hotel was full from floor to ceiling with rubbish. We went into Woolworths and looked out of the back door along the seafront. The promenade was covered with shingle and there were upturned boats, huge concrete blocks and rolls of barbed wire everywhere. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

1945

After VE Day there were street parties everywhere and we went from party to party!

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