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My husband Tom Morgan (see story ‘Tom Morgan’s Naval Days’ no A6555558) was doing his basic training in Malvern and I travelled up from Ewyas Harold to see him. I was heavily pregnant at the time. After a lovely day Tom left me at the station waiting for my train home again. Unfortunately I got on the wrong train and ended up in Honeybourne. That was the last train for the night and I was all ready to spend the night at the station when someone took pity on me and insisted I went home with her for the night. I had to share a room with her old mother who suffered badly from cramp and spent the night getting in and out of bed and walking up and down the room!

After a very sleepless night I was taken back to the station to catch my train home.

The next time I went to visit Tom, I got on the right train home but they had changed the stopping stations and I had to watch Pontrilas station zoom by and ended up in Abergavenny, Wales. I had to ring my husband’s brother to come and fetch me.

Apart from my misadventures on the train and Tom being away, the war had very little effect on my everyday life in Ewyas Harold. I know rationing was bad around the country but this being a farming area, it hardly bothered us. My mother in law shared everything so things were good. We weren’t affected by bombs at all. I took in a couple called Mr and Mrs Allen a young married couple and I also had a lodger called Ada who worked in munitions in Hereford.

My husband had a friend called John Smith and his wife came down from Scotland for a little holiday. She had her baby in my house and I ended up being a ‘proxy’ Godmother to James.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Phyllis Morgan and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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