大象传媒

Childhood wartime memories of Bedford

鈥淚 used to spend a lot of time with my oldest sister who lived in Alexander Road at that time. She had one of those large houses near the Trades Club. That sister had to take Intelligence Men in, into her front room. Because in those days they used to knock at the door and say you have to take in so many people, they could have been evacuees or soldiers.

I was only seven when the war started and I thirteen years old when it ended so it is very vivid in my memory. I think the worst thing that I remember was when I was at school. We had shelters built into the lawn of Clapham Road School (now Livingstone School). All the shelters were built under the lawn and it was day time, all of a sudden we heard the siren go. It was the only time at school I remember a raid. The teachers rushed us all to the shelter. Then we heard this big explosion. They had dropped two bombs, one on a theatre in Midland Road and one on a big hotel in Ashburnham Road. But was I ever frightened! I鈥檒l always remember that, all the children were crying, we were only small. I had a hankerchief and I only had the border left!

They had started to pull down the condemned houses, from Pigeon Square and right over the present bus station. It was a massive car park and convoys came on there all through the war. Mother used to send us out, me and my brother, I was terrified because I wasn鈥檛 very old, but we had to take the soldiers a jug of tea. Although you hadn鈥檛 got much everybody in the street had to take it because perhaps somebody would treat your own sons the same. She cut bread in great doorsteps - we had to say 鈥楳ummy sent this.鈥� I used to be terrified of the lorry loads of soldiers. They would get off, mum would say, 鈥楾hree in here, have a wash.鈥� All the people in the street would take so many and we had to stop up all night while they laid in our beds so that they could sleep because they had to be in that lorry overnight. That was everybody in the street, not just mother.

After that we used to have loads of Land Army Girls on that car park, every weekend. They used to be with their boyfriends and I would be out there and stand and watch them, they would say, 鈥楪o on, off you go.鈥� I would say, 鈥楴o, no, give me 3d. and I鈥檒l go.鈥� They gave me 3d. and I could go to the pictures the next day, I wasn鈥檛 silly! After that came the Americans. They used to roll oranges down the car park and we would all chase after them. Well, we used to have a little song that we sang to the Americans and I鈥檝e never forgotten it:

鈥淕ot any gum, chum?
Got any gum, if you have please give me some
I want to chew, chew, chew the same as you
Got any gum, chum, got any gum?鈥�

Mother was an Air Raid Warden amongst other things she used to run when the siren went. I used to say, 鈥極h, quick where鈥檚 my shoes?鈥� I can remember hopping all the way with my sisters to the air raid shelter because she made us go whether it was dangerous of not as she was an Air Raid Warden. The shelter was where the old Telephone House building was - it was built along there.

I remember one lady when we had to go to the air raid shelter, everyone said she should have had a medal. She had a husband who had never walked, a cripple and a little girl who was very ill. When the siren went this woman had to carry them both down to the shelter, every night, her husband used to go down first, you remember these things. Mother used to take a mattress down to the shelter - they were made of flock. Everyone used to do this and throw the mattresses down on these long wooden benches and then put us children on them and would go to sleep. I remember one night they had lit Bedford up one night. The bombers came and dropped flares, so it was all lit up. They dropped incendiary bombs on the Black Tom area. My sister who worked in the Nursing Home was in Russell Street and my other sister lived in Derby Street, both in the Black Tom area. Of course my mother was worried to death as they said that these incendiary bombs had killed a child in a passage in Derby Street. Her brother lived in Greyfriars Walk, that was all a built up area then and he used to come round every time to make sure that mother was alright. He said, 鈥楧on鈥檛 you worry, I鈥檒l go and make sure that they are both alright.鈥� He came back and said, 鈥楾hey are both alright but a child had been killed.鈥� It was a most frightening night, they were lighting it up with flares and we thought they were trying to hit Allen鈥檚 as they were making munitions or the railway station and they missed!

The end of the war
I was only thirteen years old and mother used to walk around all night - she never slept. Whatever was going on mother knew about it. She slept during the day and walked about all night. I remember her kneeling on my bed because I laid under the window, looking out of the window and we could hear this loudspeaker and she said, 鈥楾he war鈥檚 over, get up, get up, get up!鈥� She went knocking at all the doors telling all the people, 鈥楪et out of bed, the war鈥檚 over!鈥� We all went out, soldiers, airmen, everyone. She was kissing them and saying they鈥檇 be going home to their mothers, everyone was so excited. VE Day there was a big party at the river. There were platforms into Russell Park, there were bands, I was only thirteen but our mothers let us go. There were fireworks, it was marvellous! We didn鈥檛 get home until 2 o鈥檆lock in the morning!鈥�

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