大象传媒

THIS STORY HAS BEEN ADDED BY A CSV B.B.C RADIO BRISTOL VOLUNTEER. AT THE OUTBREAK OF TH SECOND WORLD WAR I WAS LIVING WITH MY PARENTS, SISTER AND GRANDMOTHER IN A MODERN HOUSE SITUATED IN CHADWELL HEATH, ILFORD, ESSEX.
MY FIRST MEMORY OF THE WAR WAS WHEN MY FATHER INSISTED THAT I MEMORISE MY IDENTITY CARD NUMBER (CCXW 62/3) IN CASE I GOT LOST OR WAS LEFT ON MY OWN. MY FATHER HAD JOINED THE LOCAL AUXILLARY FIRE SERVICE AS FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON FORMER MEMBERS OF THE MERCHANT NAVY WERE ENCOURAGED TO DO SO. I CAN ALSO REMEMBER WHEN ONE NIGHT I WAS OUT WITH MY MOTHER AND WE SAW THE SEARCH LIGHTS LIGHTING UP THE SKY AND THE SOUND OF THE ANTI AIRCRAFT GUNS.
IN THE SUMMER OF 1939 IT WAS DECIDED THAT MY SISTER AND I BE EVACUATED THROUGH THE LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOL TO SOMERSET, WHERE SOME OF THE TEACHERS WOULD ACCOMPANY THE SCHOOL PARTY. WE TRAVELLED BY COACH TO PADDINGTON WHERE WE SAID OUR GOODBYES TO OUR PARENTS. I CAN REMEMBER MY FATHER TELLING ME TO LOOK AFTER MY SISTER AND WRITE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO LET THEM KNOW THAT WE WERE SETTLED IN. WE ONLY HAD A SMALL CASE FOR CLOTHING ETC. TOGETHER WITH OUR GAS MASKS IN A CARDBOARD CASE HUNG AROUND OUR NECKS AND A LABEL WITH OUR NAMES TIED TO THE LAPEL OF OUR COATS.
UPON ARRIVING AT BRIDGEWATER (SOMERSET) WE WERE SPLIT INTO VARIOUS GROUPS AND TAKEN TO DISPERSAL CENTRES IN THE LOCAL AREA. OURS BEING THE WOMENS INSTITUTE HALL AT EDDINGTON SITUATED ON THE NORTH SLOPE OF THE POLDEN HILLS. WE WERE THEN GIVEN A DRINK AND SOME SANDWICHES TO EAT WHILE WE WAITED FOR OUR HOST FAMILIES TO COME AND COLLECT US. GRADUALLY THE SIZE OF THE GROUP OF THE EVACUEES GOT SMALLER UNTIL ONLY MARY AND I WERE LEFT, SOMEBODY WAS SENT TO FIND OUR HOSTS, BUT IT TURNED OUT THAT THE MAN WAS IN PRISON AND THAT HIS WIFE COULD NOT MANAGE US, BUT THE HOSTS NEIGHBOUR WAS WILLING TO TAKE US IN, AND THEY CAME AND COLLECTED US WITH A PONY AND TRAP ( THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME WE HAD BEEN TRANSPORTED IN SUCH A VEHICLE).
OUR HOST FAMILY COMPRISED OF MR AND MRS CHARLES HEAL AND THEIR THREE SONS AND A DAUGHTER AND THEY LIVED ON A SMALLHOLDING SITUATED ON THE EDGE OF THE MOOR, MRS HEAL WAS A VERY KIND PERSON WHO WORKED VERY HARD AND SEEMED TO BE EITHER WASHING OR COOKING ALL THE TIME WHILE HER HUSBAND INFORMED US THAT HE STILL CARRIED SOME SHRAPNEL FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN HIS BODY AND THAT HE WOULD NOT JOIN THE HOME GUARD UNLESS HE WAS MADE LANCE CORPORAL WHICH HE WAS. APART FROM RUNNING HIS SMALL HOLDING HE HELPED OUT AT OTHER FARMS IN THE AREA.HE USED TO GO SHOOTING RABBITS FOR THE POT AND RABBIT BECAME A REGULAR ITEM ON THE MENU.
I ALSO HAD SCALDED CREAM AND PLUM JAM ON BREAD FOR THE FIRST TIME, THIS WAS DELICIOUS. WE ALSO HAD TO USE AN OUTDOOR TOILET FOR THE FIRST TIME, NOT THE FLUSHING W.C THAT WE HAD BEEN USED TO IN CHADWELL HEATH. WE USED TO WALK TO CATCOTT SCHOOL WHERE THE TEACHER WHO TRAVELLED FROM LONDON WAS WORKING TO COPE WITH THE INFLUX OF PUPILS. WE USED TO HAVE AIR RAID DRILL AND HAVE TO INTO THE SLIT TRENCHES THAT HAD BEEN DUG IN THE ORCHARD NEXT TO THE SCHOOL. SOMETIMES IF IT WAS WET MR HEAL WOULD COLLECT US IN A HORSE AND TRAP FOR THE RETURN JOURNEY. FOR MY 9TH BIRTHDAY I REMEMBER HAVING SOME THICK VESTS SENT ME PREPARING ME FOR THE WINTER. TOGETHER WITH THE HOST CHILDREN WE USED TO PICK BLACKBERRIES FOR JAM ETC AND WILD ROSE HIPS TO SEND OFF FOR VITAMIN C MANUFACTURE TOGETHER WITH HAWTHORNE BERRIES.
LATER ON OUR MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER CAME TO EDDINGTON (DUE TO THE INTENSITY OF THE BOMBING IN LONDON) AND RENTED ROOMS WITH MR AND MRS CONDUIT ( THIS WAS NEAR THE HOLY WELL SPRING IN THE VILLAGE). AS THE LIVING CONDITIONS WERE RATHER CRAMPED AT THE HEAL'S MARY MOVED IN WITH THEM AND IT WAS ARRANGED FOR ME TO STAY WITH A MRS WHEELER IN HER HOUSE NEAR THE WHITE HART INN STILL IN EDDINGTON, BUT IT MEANT CHANGING SCHOOL TO EDDINGTON SCHOOL WHICH WAS NEARLY OPPOSITE THE WHEELERS HOUSE. MRS WHEELER WAS A WIDOW WHO HAD TWO DAUGHTERS AND A SON LIVING WITH HER.
GERALD HER SON AND I WERE OF THE SAME AGE AND HAD MANY A SCRAPE TOGETHER. I REMEMBER GOING TO MR COOMBS THE BAKER IN CATCOTT TRYING TO BUY A PENNY BUN WHEN ALL I HAD WAS A HALFPENNY AND GERALD HAD A PENNY.
THE BAKER WAS KIND AND LET ME HAVE A SMALL ONE FOR MY HALFPENNY. ONE OF THE CHORES WE HAD TO DO WAS TO COLLECT MILK FROM THE LOCAL DAIRY IN CANS AND DELIVER THEM TO VARIOUS PEOPLE IN THE VILLAGE, WE ALSO USED TO CLEAN OUT THE HEN HOUSES FOR A LOCAL POULTRY FARMER ON A SATURDAY TO EARN A FEW PENNIES FOR POCKET MONEY.
MY FATHER WAS ALL OUT OF THE BLUE, TRANSFERRED TO BRIDGEWATER FIRE STATION AS STATION LEADER. THE FAMILY WERE ALL TOGETHER AGAIN WHEN HE RENTED A HOUSE IN REDGATE STREET IN BRIDGEWATER, HERE I REMEMBER MY MOTHER COLLECTING ALL THE SALVAGE FOR THE WAR EFFORT AND HAVING IT PILED UP IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, IN THE PASSAGEWAY AS WELL AS IN THE GARDEN. WHILE THIS WAS GOING ON MY GRANDMOTHER WAS KNITTING AWAY MAKING SEABOOT STOCKINGS OUT OF OILED WOOL, WHICH FILLED THE HOUSE WITH ITS OILY SMELL.
WHEN LIVING AT REDGATE STREET I ATTENDED EASTOVER PRIMARY SCHOOL WHERE THE HEADMASTER WAS MR HOOK, HE HAD LOST AN ARM IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND ON REMEMBERANCE DAY HAD THE WHOLE SCHOOL OUT IN THE PLAYGROUND FOR THE TWO MINUTE SILENCE.
WE THEN MOVED TO CHILTERN STREET IN BRIDGEWATER, WHERE WE HAD A BIGGER HOUSE AND A LARGE GARDEN WITH A PEAR TREE. I USED TO EARN THREE PENCE A WEEK CLEANING MY GRANDMOTHERS SHOES, I THEN BOUGHT A THREE PENCE LOAD OF ROUGH CUT WOOD FROM RANDALL'S WOOD YARD SITUATED NEAR THE DOCKS, I WOULD THEN SAW THE WOOD UP AND SELL IT TO AN OLD LADY WHO LIVED NEARBY FOR ONE SHILLING AND THEN GO TO THE ODEON CINEMA FOR THE SATURDAY MORNING CINEMA CLUB FOR SIX PENCE (UPSTAIRS BEING NINE PENCE). I WAS ALSO INVOLVED WITH THE 11TH BRIDGEWATER SCOUT GROUP BASED AT ST JOHNS CHURCH WHERE WE USED TO GO CAMPING ON THE QUANTOCKS IN HOLFORD COOMBE MOST WEEKENDS FROM EASTER TO SEPTEMBER.
I WAS BY THEN ATTENDING DR MORGANS GRAMMAR SCHOOL WHERE EVENT THE REGISTER WAS MADE UP OF LOCAL PUPILS AND AT THE BOTTOM WAS THE FOUR EVACUEES WHO WERE IN THE CLASS. THIS CHANGED WHEN PEACE CAME. WHEN PEACE WAS DECLARED THERE WAS A LARGE BONFIRE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AT SALTLANDS JUNCTION WITH POLDEN STREET WHERE THE TARMAC SURFACE OF RHT EROAD CAUGHT FIRE AND THE FIRE BRIGADE WAS CALLED OUT.
WE THEN MOVED TO MIDDLEZOY WHERE MY PARENTS BECAME THE LICENCEES OF THE GEORGE INN AND I SETTLED IN TO VILLAGE LIFE AND HAD NO INTENTION OF EVER RETURNING TO SUBURBIA ( THE PAVEMENTS ARE TOO HARD).

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