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'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Gwilym Scourfield of the County Heritage Team on behalf of Valerie Milnes and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

Wirral at War, through the Eyes of a Young Girl

I was 11 years old when, on Sunday Sept 3rd l939, Prime Minister Chamberlain, declared on radio, that Britain was at war with Germany.

My imagination ran riot and I believed then that I and my family, for the duration of the war, would be confined to one room in our house - probably the kitchen, which would be sealed. Should we have to go out we would have to wear our gas masks. Thankfully this was not the case.

We lived on the Wirral side of the River Mersey and the war barely touched us until the Spring of 194l. Very kindly our neighbour had invited my Mother and two sisters to join them in their Anderson air raid shelter when ever an air raid took place. One night about 2 a.m. the Luftwaffe, which had commenced a campaign of incendiary bombing Britain鈥檚 major cities, chose Liverpool as its target. We all stood on top of the air raid shelter and watched Liverpool city centre and the dock area go up in flames. It was a truly horrendous sight. One of the few buildings that survived throughout the war was Liverpool Cathedral which stood majestically above the ruins of the city - with a ladder on top! Building hadn't been quite completed.

Some time during the war a stray German bomber flew over Wirral and dropped a land mine on my school, "The Wirral County School for Girls". Our education continued with difficulty. My classroom was the Physics lab which had not entirely escaped the effects of the land mine.

My next door neighbour鈥檚 son was my childhood friend. We used to go on cycle rides together. Manfred had heard that the "Mauretania" was docked on the Liverpool side of the Mersey. We decided to cycle down to the Birkenhead side of the river along the tow path to see it. A German fighter flying low zoomed along the river machine gunning as it continued up river. We were off our bikes quicker than that, lying flat on the ground! That was the nearest I ever got to being a war casualty.

I do not regret having lived through the war. In some ways it occurred during what some believe should have been the best years of my life. However, during that time I believe the British spirit transcended all .I do remember how, in so many different ways the ordinary British Citizen, young and old gave their support to those who were fighting for a successful end to the war. I was among the many that knitted socks for soldiers.

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