大象传媒

At the outbreak of war in September 1939, my parents were on holiday at the Isle of Man, the family sat by the radio as we had no idea how things would be. However they arrived home safe and sound! Things were quiet for a time. The council came and built us an Anderson shelter in our garden. I was still at school leaving at Christmas when I was 14 years old. Shelters were also built opposite our school and others built at different parts of the town. We had gas mask practices and we took turns in changing the water bottles for the shelters. I remember reporting a man who got on our bus and he kept asking me about the aircraft factory at the corner of our street. The headmaster was quite impressed with me. The man was probably only looking for a job. My dad straight away joined the LDV later the Home Guard. I had two brothers, three sisters and three step brothers.

We had to have blackout curtains all over the house, no light had to show and all light outside had to be partly covered. At first, things seemed normal. Then one morning we were told about the sinking of The Hood, a battleship where over 1000 were drowned. The atmosphere everywhere brought home the tragedy and you knew sailors who went down, it shocked the nation. You heard of men and women being called up.

Air raids started, but not many in the north at first. Dad used to wake us telling us how many we had shot down and how many planes we had lost. We could hear aeroplanes flying over and a few sadly crashed on the Pennines. News would come through about lads you knew who were wither killed, missing or POW. Eventually my brother was called up in the RE and served abroad later we heard he was missing and my dad cried, knowing what war was like after serving in WW1. However, weeks after we had a card from the Vatican to say he was a POW in Italy. When Italy capitulated he was sent to Germany. At home we had a bed put in the shelter my stepbrother and brother used to sleep in it during air raids. They were both on war work at the Northern Aircraft. Three months after war was declared I left school and worked at a clothes factory inspecting and passing the cloth. However, that soon ended as I had to go on war work in the mill. Some of the work I suppose was for uniforms or home uses some of the work was used cotton used for flex to cover the wire for radio location. We would get visiting RAF personnel coming round just to see what we did. We all had to do fire watch at weekends. Sometimes we worked from 6am to 5.30pm also everyone worked Saturday till lunch time. I don鈥檛 think at this time I didn鈥檛 realise how serious things were, lads we knew from church, neighbours in the street were reported missing or killed. When Manchester was bombed, Dad worked double shifts he was an engine driver tacking goods for the factories at Gorton, a few bombs dropped nearby but I dont think anyone was killed. Guide Bridge railway was quite a big marshalling yard, plenty of factories around, yet the bombs dropped in the fields nearby. The Ack Ack guns on the Ashton moss nearby made the most noise. Efforts all over the town raised money for RAF, Navy and Army. We used to give shows at church for funds for the forces. My dad had a sense of humour, he would boil us eggs put them in the cups and draw Hitler on so we could smash the shell. There was always a joke in the shelter and in the toilet was owing to shortage of paper use both sides . He also had a serious side, studied politics and wrote a lot about the uprising of Mussalini I regret these have been lost. Mum used to listen to Lord Haw Haw, I think she thought he could hear her answering him back, her blood pressure must have pretty high. I don鈥檛 ever remember being hungry My dad and two brothers got extra rations because of their work. Mum was a good cook and people helped one another, you got used to sweets being scare, also clothes. My sister, Nell, made me a coat out of a blanket, it was great.

If word got around the bakers were making meat pies, you would queue up, you took a small jug for gravy, they were delicious. My friend Lily lived with her auntie and they use to get food parcels from Canada, but the Germans torpedoed a ship full of children a week before, so it was all stopped. I visited Barrow in Furness, my step brother worked there and I saw an aircraft carrier in the docks almost in half. I don鈥檛 know what happened to the poor sailors. Joan, my sister and I visited her husband on the South Coats and on a clear day you could see the Channel Islands where the Germans had taken over. Lily and I visited my auntie at Grimsby and witnessed a bombing raid on Hull (some holiday!) My friend Kath and I used to go to Belle Vue to hear the Halle and a well known brass brand playing all Russian music ending with the 1812 overture. Something I will never forget as Stalingrad was under siege.

I wasn鈥檛 allowed to go to the Barracks in Ashton-udner-Lyne as Ashton was full of soldiers, being a garrison town. One of the most moving times I had was going on my bike for a rehearsal at a school and seeing this soldier coming towards me, smiling at me. It was my brother George. He had kept a photograph of me in his pocket all through the war. Words cannot express the feeling you get in such circumstances.

We did have a pretty good social life, going to the cinema and having a good cry.

My friends and I belonged to a Youth Fellowship at Church. Although it was a sad time, I have many happy memories. We would go hiking on the Pennines, have discussions, whist drives and dances and play table tennis with other churches in the area. I still keep in touch with my friends.

I spent a lot of time at my sister, Nellies, playing cards at weekend or baby-sitting. Nell took a boffin in, he was at University on some war work and then she took three of our cousins from Grimsby. Mum also took in a cousin so we were kept very busy.

The brave RAF, Navy and Army saved us, it seemed like a miracle.

Whenever I hear music like Glen Miller, it brings memories flooding back. I have lived to see a lot of history in the making. It makes me wonder what the next generations will experience. I hope war is not one of them!!!

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