大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by volunteer from The Chepstow Society on behalf of Arthur Turner and has been added to the site with his permission. Arthur Turner fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Continues from contribution ID 4124567

The Town

I mean it was a better atmosphere in those days than it is today because you know there was not so much antagonism. I think really what caused the trouble with the girls was the Americans. Oh yes, well they had the money didn鈥檛 they? They had money and they were better paid of course, and they used to be able to get nylon stockings and things like that.

Another incident in Chepstow was the night that they dropped a bomb that hit the Ditch Wood. I was coming out of the Bank that night, it was about six, oh getting on for six, half past five to six. It was dark and I was just locking up. We had two locks on the front door, and of course you always kept your keys on a chain. I just got my key on the chain on the top lock, this is stretched up like that, and I heard this whistle and I knew what it was, so I led down onto the floor. It went over the Town, there wasn鈥檛 anybody much about outside. Eventually the bomb exploded I don鈥檛 where it went somewhere in the Ditch Wood there, and it blew lumps of stone out, quite big lumps of stone. There used to be a Miss Clark, had a Stationery Shop, in High Street. There was Phillips鈥� the Men鈥檚 Outfitters and next door to that was another shop, and that was Miss Clark鈥檚. She was quite old in those days, and deaf. A piece of this stone, a piece of this rock came over and smashed that window. Ray Kirton, who was also one of the Messengers, he was coming up to go on duty because he鈥檇 heard the siren. He got up Middle Street and just opposite the Five Alls there鈥檚 a shop with a step up. He heard this thing coming over, and he stepped up into the doorway, and a piece of stone, it dropped right in front him. He picked it up and brought it with him as a souvenir.

Entertainment in Chepstow was the old Public Hall. Mrs Black used to run a dance on Wednesdays, and on Saturdays there was another one. I think there was at one time anyway they had a band, Bertoni they called it. There was Bob Phillips in there, and somebody called Jones, Sam Jones, and there was Mr Bennett from St Anne鈥檚 Street used to play the piano, but I suppose they got called up you see in due time, not Mr Bennett but the others would. Bert Crook yes he was there yes, and Mr Schoberg, he was in it at one time, but I鈥檓 a bit hazy about the dates. And of course the soldiers only had their boots to dance in, so the floor was roughed up a bit.

The Town

I know when we used to come back home on leave, the central marshalling point for anybody who was on leave was the White Lion. Mrs Corbin was there, and the first thing you did was to go in there and say 鈥渨hose on leave鈥� you know. And of course there was always somebody here, somebody on leave the same time as you, we all used to meet there. We used to meet there, and at one time The Bush was of course was a popular but as I say, most of us used to go to the White Lion to meet up.

The British Restaurant was at the bottom of the School Hill. We used to go, you got a meal for a shilling then, a lunch for a shilling. A lot of people went down there a regular thing, it wasn鈥檛 terribly big mind. I didn鈥檛 go down there every day, but occasionally I went down there, you know curiosity to see what it was like when they started it, and it was reasonable.

The Town

The Americans they landed the the great big Tank Carrying Tractors and Trailers. They were at Newport, and they were bringing them up through. I was coming home one from work one day and I鈥檇 got at far as the Terrace, Hardwick Terrace there where the Post Office used to be, the Red Cross Shop now. And there was a convoy of these things coming down through the Town, and of course they came down and had to turn round into the Town and down through the Arch. I was watching these come down, they were just one after the another and great big things they were, we hadn鈥檛 seen anything like it as big as that before. Suddenly there was a horn blowing and I looked up and there was one running away, the brakes had gone, and he was coming down on the wrong side of Mount Pleasant quite fast. Coming up round the corner there was one just starting to go round the corner, with a little car coming down, and he just managed to come up before this lorry came down. And the convoy stopped and he saw that opening, you know where the buses go into Thomas Street. He saw that there, and he pulled his lorry round there. There was there used to be in those days, corner of Green Dragon like that and there was a telephone box right up in that corner, and this lorry finished across there and left a little triangle in there. I couldn鈥檛 really understand how he鈥檇 managed to do it, how he had managed to get it round there, but he had of course. He hit the Green Dragon wall as well, but it slewed round. I was so impressed by it that I went round to the Police Station and I said that you know I 鈥榙 witnessed this and I thought he 鈥榙 done a wonderful job, this chap he must have had a few grey hairs I should think after it, because he didn鈥檛 know where he was going! I don鈥檛 think he would have done a lot of driving with it for the rest of the day!

Travel

Of course you didn鈥檛 have to pass a driving test then, you could get a provisional licence then you wouldn鈥檛 get a proper licence. But you could drive on the provisional licence for evermore. I had one during the war, if you had it for a number of years, you could get a full licence at the end of the war. A lot of people never drove a car in their life, but they had a provisional licence and eventually got a full licence.

I think about the last bus was half past nine from Newport. Damn cold in those days as well, no heating and no doors of course, they were open at the back. The conductors or the conductresses as well, used to stand on the back step. We used to come out of the Tech at nine o鈥檆lock, and we caught the half past nine bus in Clarence Place. They used to take about three quarters of an hour in those days to get home.

Voluntary Organisations

On Friday nights Harry Ashwin and I did the 鈥榓ll night鈥� duty at the Police Station. The room on the right was the ARP control room, and that was all blocked up with sand bags. That was where the telephones were and the telephone exchange and what not. When the siren first went off, my Brother and I were sleeping in the back of the house (Hardwick Avenue). Of course we were woken by the siren, we dressed, rushed down to the Police Station along with all the rest of the messengers, and everything was deadly quiet you know. Nobody knew what was going to happen, of course it was the first time we had an air raid in Chepstow, and we sat there for about two or three hours and eventually the all clear came through. At the sound of the all clear, we crept off home and back to bed. And the next night the siren went again, same thing sort of happened. We all turned out and then nothing happened while we were down there waiting for the all clear. By the third night, you know people were getting a bit used to it, and the noise of all of us down there was enough to waken the Police Inspector, who used to sleep in the Police House upstairs. I always remember he came down with his boots on and his dressing gown on, and what he said to us about the noise wasn鈥檛 fit for our young ears. Anyway so they then decided that it was ridiculous having everybody out because most times you weren鈥檛 doing anything you see. That they would divide it up, and we would have two messengers on each night. Eventually when they got more Controllers they got a Controller on at night and as well. But initially it was two messengers and we had two bunks in this room where we slept. And you can imagine after we鈥檇 been there a while, it had been all blocked up and people had been sleeping in there, it became a bit awful. And of course the other thing was that we used to take sort of a bottle of beer or something in to drink and we used to put them in the oven. There was a range in this room, and it pretty soon got full of empty bottles. But the system worked very well, and eventually as I said we had a Controller, Bill Hood, he used to be in the Council Offices. Little Bill Hood he was on with Harry Ashwin and I. Also the Police gave us another room upstairs with a fire in. I remember we decided one night we鈥檇 have some sausages and chips for tea. Which we did, which we cooked in this little room on an open fire upstairs. We must have over indulged in some way 鈥榗os we couldn鈥檛 sleep after that you know, we had to walk round the town in the black out until the chips went down.

War Effort Materials

There was some railings went from around here, they cut them off and sent them up. I can remember them being cut off, you know seeing them cut off, there quite a few older buildings with ornamental iron railings there.

Work In Wartime

We did Fire Watching one night a week. I don鈥檛 know who was in charge of it, but it was centred on the Masonic Hall at the back of where the George Hotel entrance is now, that was the Masonic Hall, and that鈥檚 where the fire watching equipment was kept. Stirrup pumps and sand buckets and what nots you know. We were supposed to occupy the premises, this is 1940, after the bombing started, I went on one night a week with the Manager. And I used to collect a mattress from the Masonic Hall, and carry it down to Lloyds Bank, and put it down behind the counter. What I used to do was there we had a service in the Bank, which they called an ARP Service. Which meant that duplicate records were kept, and every night you sent your duplicate records for that day to a different branch. And we (Lloyds Bank) were a Custodian Branch for five different places. What we had to do was to file this information, so that if a Branch got bombed, they could send for this duplicate. I mean the chances were that, you know that they were so far away that they wouldn鈥檛 obviously get bombed together, and they could compile the records. I can remember there was Grayshott which is in Surrey I think, there was a Halifax Branch in Yorkshire, there was Austrey in Warwicks, Rochdale was another one. That鈥檚 four, I don鈥檛 know whether I will remember the fifth one or not. Well I had this lot to file you see, and every day we got some, they came by post each day. What I used to do was to save them up for a week, and do the filing on the Fire Watching nights. All you had to do was to stay on the premises really, it was Fire Watching for your own premises. There were other people besides us, but each premises was supposed to provide a Fire Watcher. So that if there were fire bombs and a place caught on fire. At least there was somebody there to notify them, there wasn鈥檛 an empty building that could really get roaring away, perhaps catch every other premises. We had a bucket, each Office and a stirrup pump. Not that would probably have been very effective, but at least might have held things in check. You put your foot on the stirrup to hold it steady, and pumped up and down. And as I say there were buckets of sand as well, and usually a spade and some sort of pickaxe or something like that description or a bar that you could wrench doors open if necessary. Only very basic equipment, but it was there.

Work in Wartime

When I was away I don鈥檛 think the Manager bothered to go down. But when he was away I was expected to go down, I got a shilling a night for this! I went there one night on my own, we had to go on duty at ten o鈥檆lock until seven in the morning you see. I went there one night and I did this filing, and about twelve o鈥檆lock I put the mattress down behind the counter, and got a blanket and went off to sleep. I was disturbed, I suppose it would have been about one o鈥檆lock, when a terrible noise on the door, and I thought what the dickens is that? and put my hands on the counter and pulled myself up. I just about got my head above the counter when the lights went on, and old Brown, PC Brown the policeman was in there with his truncheon in his hand. And I don鈥檛 know who was more frightened him or me! I鈥檇 closed the door, and he鈥檇 come round and tried it as they used to in those days, you see, and the door had come open. And when he hammered on the front door with his truncheon, he left dents in the door, and they were there until after the war when they put a new door on.

I finished school in February 1940, and I joined Lloyds Bank in 1940. There was Dinham going and a few more places, I didn鈥檛 really want to go into the Bank of course, in fact I turned down Barclays Bank.

They were building Tank Landing Craft and things like that down at the Shipyard, they built quite a number of course. They cleared the slipways, they had all been overgrown and neglected after the first war, and they cleared all those and they built quite a few down there. Different sorts and they used to launch them into the into the river there.

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