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I was 14 years old on the morning of Sept 3rd when the Prime Minister declared war on Germany. The air-raid warning went off soon after. Thankfully it was a false alarm however it made people realise the seriousness and we had crowds of people come to our house as my Father was an air-raid warden. We had loads of gas-masks stored in our little front-room because people had refused them when my Dad had called round to deliver them. Both my sister and I had helped him in the weeks before this. We lived in Mile End, East London.

It was a quiet year regarding the air-raids. People carried on with their lives and things slowly got back to normal. Theatres and cinemas opened etc… until Sept. 1940. On Sept 7th, a Saturday afternoon I was with my cousins playing the gramophone out in the garden. I will always remember we were playing ‘O Johnnie O Johnnie how you can love’, and then suddenly we saw the planes having dog-fights in the sky. We all rushed to the Anderson Shelter in the garden then we heard the bombs screaming down. We stayed put, then my Dad came and told us that the back of our house had caught fire. We were all safe but the lady next door was badly injured. There was a Mulberry tree in the garden and the roots were up in the air just like a giant had grabbed it! It was said that the bombers were aiming at the railway and docks.

For a bit of humour I knew that Mum had a leg of Lamb in an old safe in the garden so I scrambled over the debris and found it. I knew that was our Sunday dinner.

In the following October they dropped a land mine more or less on the same site which cleared the whole street. We were in the shelter all really shocked and I had lost two front teeth - so then we were really homeless and were evacuated to Surrey.

We only stayed in Surrey for two weeks then we came back to my Aunties in Leyton. We had the air-raids and by then I started work in the local post-office. I also joined the Women’s Junior Corps and we were trained in Morse-code, first aid and air-craft recognition. At weekends we helped on the land with fruit and tomato picking. We were being trained to be useful in the event of a German invasion and I continued to work in the post office. Working in the post office was a reserved occupation so I didn’t go into the services. We suffered quite a lot of bombing in Leyton both at home and work but we all carried on.

V-E Day came and what celebrations! There was a gang of Irish workman over, doing war damage repairs and in their work shed they organised a party. We all raided our cupboards for food and drink and what a spread it was. With the Europe campaign over now we just wanted the Far East War over, but back home it was great with the lights all on we even went on holiday! 14 girls from the Women’s Junior Air Corp to Canvey Island! In 1946 I met my husband on his de-mobbed leave, and 57 years later we are still telling the story.

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