大象传媒

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Devonport Memories.

I was born in Granby Street No 29, but by the time I started school we had moved to Stoke.

Childhood Memories.

My Paternal grandparents lived at George Street. My granddad, who had served up to the 1914 war in India, was the park keeper of Cumberland Gardens, which at that time was like so many parks enclosed by high railings and locked at night, park keepers had to maintain the parks in those days so he swept and weeded, painted, really took a pride in his park, and of course where he lived he could look out the window of his George Street flat, and could see his domain at night.

I spent a lot of my time shopping in Devonport, with my Grandmother and mother. I can remember the market, especially Saturday evenings when all the traders would want to sell their goods, to avoid carrying them home. Many of the traders in the Devonport Market came from the surrounding areas of Plymouth, many coming by boat from towns along the Tamar, and their wares had to be carried in large baskets (panniers) hence,`Pannier Market'.
My father died before I was 5, so my mother was left with my two sisters and me, so times were hard, and the weekly shopping run to `Market' was essential for our family, late on Saturdays a lot of food was just given for a few coppers to families like ours, and a lot of it was just given free.

We usually finished our shopping by going to Marlborough Street and visiting `Stephens' bakery, yes they also gave away all the cakes and bread rolls left at the end of the day.

There were no cars or buses for our family in those days, very few could afford that luxury, so we always walked from Stoke through Malborough Street passed the Devonport hospital through Devonport Park, to Devonport.

Schools

I attended Somerset Place Infants School, where i stayed until eleven years old, after taking the exam I moved to johnston Terrace Secondary School, but I was only a pupil at that school for a few weeks when that school was destroyed by German bombs and because bombs in one of the raids damaged our house, so moved to relatives in cornwall, coming back near the end of the war to finish my education at Stoke Senior School, sited in then old Devonport High School Building at the top of Albert Road, taking the Dockyard exam at that school to enter Devonport Dockyard in 1944.

Teachers

The infant teachers were not very good, all seemed to be strict to the point of cruelty at that time, the senior schoolteachers were most older men and spinster ladies because of the war, and were not very good, most of us seemed to have punishment regularly, or were we so undisciplined?

Memories Old Devonport

I was employed int he Naval Store Department from 1945, so for a time I worked behind that wall in the old Marks and Spencer building which you can see from the Forum. I just remembered some of the cinemas/theatres in Devonport. We as school children were marched from oke school to the Hippodrome to see the film of King George 6th coronation. I can remember going to the Alhambra down near the South Yard Gate for a pantomime and waiting outside the side doors of the `Electric' cinema for someone to come out so we could slip in and see the film without paying, the `Electric' was more expensive than the `Hippodrome', and also I think the `Tivoli' in Fore Street.

My maternal grandfather often told me stories of the Hippodrome, which was in Granby Street few streets behind where the Forum is today. He was employed as a road sweeper with the City Council and was based at Pottery Quay Depot, but used to do some evening part time work at the Hippodrome, I think it would be called `moonlighting' today, because the wage was so low. He with many other men did the work of moving the scenery and curtains, `fly men' they were called, a job done today by electric motors.

Marlborough Street

Some of the shops, Hiorns and Millers the stationers, Sweets, toy shop, Russell's grocery especially the broken biscuits, the many public houses, one I can remember known as `Casey's'.

At the end of Marlborough Street near South Yard Gate there was a fish shop owned by a Mrs Ovey, we used to take branches from our bay tree and she would give us some fish, mackerel or whiting at no charge.

I can remember some of the Devonport shops, Tozers the large store for cheap clothes and furnishings, David Sales, ironmongery, Harris the seed merchant, we bought our seeds and dog bisuits there, Halfords, the Post Office, Marks and Spencers, hs, Agnes Westons or Aggies as all the sailors knew as `The Royal Sailors Rest'.

Churches

St Marys somewhere near the end of George Street, St Josephs at Mutton Cove, Miss Uglows Mission, Granby Street, and the Salvation Army, the Methodist Welcome Hall, St Aubyns.

My family all lived in No 10 Portland Road, consisted of my maternal grandfather, my grandmother, my mother, our father died when I was four years old, my two sisters aged nine and five, my mother's sister and brother.

Plymouth Blitz
Preparations for War

I can remember the windows in all the houses being covered with strips of sticky tape to avoid the glass flying if any bombs dropped near, also the blackout curtains which all houses had fitted, no lights would be visible from the air over Plymouth. Every park and open space in the city had a Barrage Balloon, manned by RAF personnel; they were raised during all air raids to stop low level bombing over the city. Many streets had either a large concrete surface shelter or a nearby park, a large underground concrete shelter built.

Everyone was issued with a ration card for food, an Identity card and a gasmask, which we carried where ever we went, we kept them under our desks in school. When the war started, we listened to the radio, on an old Bush set, during the war years that was the link to the outside world for most people. I was aged ten and remember listening late at night to the programmes being transmitted to occupied Europe, and the thrill when the national anthems of the many countries under German control being beamed into the many unauthorised radio sets throughout Europe, years later we learned that this annoyed the Germans. Would also on some nights hear the coded messages to the underground resistant people in Europe, they c ertainly sounded strange to us at that time, messages such as "Mother's ducks will go to the market", certainly comical to we children.

Our family living in the Stoke area of Devonport was in the target area for the Dockyard complex. Because our grandmother was unable to walk with arthritis we could not use the Anderson shelters being built at that time, so we used to go under the stairs as our family air raid shelter. The house next door No 9 Portland Road was destroyed during one of the raids and our house number ten was severely damaged. We were trapped in the house by rubble and eventually rescued by naval gunners who during the blitz were manning anti aircraft guns on large lorries around the streets of Plymouth. I remember that during the raids when one could hear the bombs exploding all around us, our dog, a Labrador would try to crawl up inside my shirt in the shelter. And when the navy men rescued us, my oldest sister had no shoes so one of the sailors carried on on his back into the street. Some neighbours up the street took us in and gave us soup.

At some time in 1942, we were awakened one night to sounds of shouting and some gunfire in the street, on looking out of the bedroom window we saw many French sailors being chased by British sailors with rifles, apparently they were some of the crew of a French submarine `Surcouf', (which we learned about years later), they had mutinied on their ship. This was the largest submarine in the world at that time (it had a seaplane on board) and the crew wanted to return to France, which was in German hands. Eventually the ship came under allied control and lost under mysterious circumstances during the war. When examining the house in the daylight my family realised that we could not live there so we decided to go to Cornwall where my grandmothers' brother lived, it was a place call Bake, near Trerulefoot. Because of the raids, transport was not available in those days after the raid; we heard that there were unexploded bombs on the approach to the Brunel Bridge, so the only road into Cornwall was by the Torpoint Ferry. There was no way we could go by coach as one can today, we had no car, so we walked. Grandmother was in her wheelchair and Grandfather, mother and my sisters carried some essential things in bags with our dog following us, we set out for Bake Farm, I think it was about twenty miles from Devonport? I often think we looked like those pictures on the refugees travelling across Europe, one still will see on the TV. We walked quite a long way until a passing army lorry stopped and helped us all into the back of the truck which took us to my Grandmother's brother's house at Bake, the army camp was in the woods behind the farm. Sadly within a few days Rex our dog was killed by one of the army lorries.

My sisters and I attended the local school nearly four miles from the farm; we had to walk every day, no school buses as today. The school was in the village of Bethany, just two classes, infants and juniors.

I think it was sometime during 1943 that we were able to return to Portland Road but in number six. House numbers nine and ten were being rebuilt. We children had not realised that during our time in Cornwall many items of our family belongings had disappeared, the day we vacated our house my mother moved many items of value into the front room as that was the only room which could be secured, during the Blitz there were people known as looters were active, they had obviously came to our house, if any were caught during that time they incurred severe punishment, we never saw our belongings again.

I attended Stoke Senior School, which was a collection of senior schools, which had been destroyed in the air raids. Consequently I took the Dockyard exam for the Naval Store Department and my oldest sister joined her school, which had been evacuated to Truro (Stoke Damerell High School).

I joined the Naval Store Department in 1944, just past fourteen years old, so entered the Dockyard at one of the most exciting times in the history, preparation for D Day.

The day before D Day I like many others had heard rumours of The Second Front, but we always thought it was far in the future, so a few days befor the landings our work was very busy but for the dockyard normal duties. During those hectic days all the docks and basins were full of vessels, they stretched out into the River Tamar. Some of the ships I had to deliver small items of store, usually instruments, sextants, binoculars etc. I found this very difficult during those days as one had to cross perhaps seven trawlers to reach the ship. But on the morning of D Day, I entered the dockyard to start work at seven thirty that morning to find the docks, basins empty; the entire fleet of vessels had gone overnight.

Many more things come into the memories at certain times but this is enought for this occasion.

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