大象传媒

I was a child in World War 2. In our village, which was quite small, we had a fire engine service and a Home Guard detachment, of which my father was a member. Several times a month he would go to a small hill in a village nearby and watch out for potential enemy activity!

In Ripon where I went to school there were two army camps, the Royal Engineers and the Royal Signals, which meant there were servicemen everywhere! In nearby Dishforth there was a big air base which housed Lancaster bombers and I remember them flying over Wath. Sometimes the returning bombers would be visibly damaged.

There was also a POW camp in Ripon and the prisoners there would often help out on the farms, including the one where I worked. There was no antagonism and we all got on well with them.

I also remember that the bus that would take us to school ran on gas and had a gas trailer attached to it! Also, many of the teachers at school were in the services and had to go away, meaning that many retired teachers had to come back to take our lessons.

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