大象传媒

I was 4 years old whe WW2 started. There were so many memories, especially from when I was about 6 or 7 years old and onwards.

Our air raid shelter was part of a communal shelter. We approached our private section down our cellar steps, which opened to a small room. In front of this ran a corridor which went into a public shelter where people came in from the street.

People would be playing mouth organs and other musical instruments, people would be singing and I would put my tap shoes on and dance to the folks. I didn't realise how serious the situation was and thought it great fun dancing and singing.

When the air raids were very bad, my Mother's Sister, her husband and their 5 children would travel on a tram and a 'bus every teatime coming from the outskirts of Birmingham centre because they felt safer in our air raid shelter. They brought their bedding with them together with sandwiches and stayed all night.Then first thing in the morning they would travel back to Edgbaston. My uncle would go to work and the cousins attend school. This went on for many many nights and months.

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