大象传媒

Doreen's father was an air raid warden, after 9 years in the service. She remembers going every night to the shelter underneath the cathedral and huddling for safety with hundreds of other people. Doreen was 11 at the time, and had two brothers. She liked to watch the searchlights and the dogfights, and used to run home with torches. She would have school dinners even in summer, and queued up for cakes with the ration book, but was always hungry. She watched Manchester go up in flames. Her brothers collected wood from bomb sites, and sold it. In 1947, wood was still scarce, and Doreen's dad chopped up all the tables and chairs to make a fire after mum came out of the hospital; 1947 was the coldest winter in ages. Doreen's mum died the following year. People did what they had to in order to survive during the war and its aftermath. Doreen's dad tiled the loos in Albert Square, the Grosvenor Hotel, and Blackfriars Street. People had to queue up for coal for years after the war had ended. Fruit was very scarce. Sweets from the newsagent's during the war were a small luxury. Doreen was evacuated to Haslingden for a month, and she hated it; she really missed home.

Doreen Smith
01253 357832

Interviewed by Ben McCrory in Albert Square, Manchester, 8 May 2005.

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