大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Sarah Housden of Norfolk Adult Education鈥檚 reminiscence team on behalf of Edna Moore and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I lived in Norwich during the war, with my husband and children. My oldest child, Beryl, was six when the war started. My husband was in the Auxiliary Fire Service and would often have to go on duty at night. I felt awful during air raids, really frightened, and would go into the cupboard under the stairs with Beryl at night. I still have a very vivid memory of a clock that was in there, ticking away throughout the night. I would even hear it in my dreams. My neighbour was a warden, and he would come in and say to me: 鈥淵ou鈥檒l be alright tonight, I鈥檓 on duty鈥�.

We lived in Stafford Street near the Dereham Road, which was heavily bombed. One family in Stafford Street got a direct hit, but they all got out alive. I used to go and stay with my mother who lived on St Williams Way in Thorpe, away from the city centre.

I was, (and still am), a member of the Salvation Army, who helped people who had been bombed out. They had a hostel in St Giles, and I helped in the canteen by pouring out the teas.

My father had a tailoring factory in St Giles and I worked there as a dressmaker. With clothing being on coupons, I made all our clothes, including my husband鈥檚 jackets. I used to buy the material and Silco鈥檚 from Garlands in Norwich. I also had to make our Blackouts. I remember my son Nigel and a friend of his who lived nearby being really frightened of the Blackout. They鈥檇 come running inside when it started to get dark and wouldn鈥檛 want to go out again.

There was a really good community spirit during the war. Me and my neighbours would cook for each other and share our food. We helped each other out whenever anyone was short of anything. One of my neighbours even came in to sleep with me sometimes because I was so frightened when my husband Arnold was working at night.

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