´óÏó´«Ã½

My father was transferred from Southampton to Liverpool in 1940 and when I was 12 years old it was deemed fit that he should take care of me, so I was sent to
Liverpool. We stayed in lodging houses in Seaforth and Waterloo and I remember with mixed feelings the life I led in the area. I attended three schools, Seaforth Elementary, St Mary’s College and Waterloo Central. I remember staying in a house near South Road where Woolworth’s had a shop. I remember the Railway station from where I was able to travel to Southport or Liverpool whenever I could afford it. One morning when I arrived at the gates of Waterloo Central School I was surprised to see that part of the school had been bombed. We spent a lot of our spare time sorting out a big heap of lead type into various faces and sizes little knowing that in a few years time I would be working as an apprentice in a printing works! I remember spending many nights in an Anderson shelter whilst bombs were going off and the AA guns were firing. Every time I smell a paraffin stove I am reminded of being cooped up at night trying to get to sleep amid the noise. Once an unexploded bomb landed outside the house and we had to leave everything behind and go to the Church Hall to spend the night sleeping on the floor as best we could. The schools were being evacuated and as one of the main teachers, Mr Tyrer, had already taken a party of children to South Wales it was thought best I should join them. I was given a ticket to Neath (changing at Cardiff). It was quite an adventure. I was to be met by Mr Greenhalgh whom I remembered from Seathforth Elementary School. He took me by bus to meet Mr Tyrer, then on to the house of Mr & Mrs Pritchard who took me in as one of the family, and the next day I started school in Abercrave Village Hall. When I became 14 I had to make a choice between going on to further education in Ystalyfera School or to start work! I decided to find a job. My father, in the meantime, had been transferred to the Air Ministry at Stonehouse in Gloucestershire and I was taken on in the Civil Service (Temporary Clerk Grade 3, Air Ministry Income Tax Dept), at Stonehouse in Gloucester on the 10th August 1942.

I was sad to leave my newfound friends in Abercrave, Stan Melhuish, Phil Thomas and Syd Cockburn among others. Mr Tyrer was a good teacher and I enjoyed the hikes and Youth Hostelling he took us on, ranging from the Black Mountain, through the Fforest Fawr to the Brecon Beacons. Those days in Abercrave were the happiest of all my schooldays, and oasis in a topsy-turvy world.

‘This story was submitted to the People’s War site by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Merseyside’s People’s War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his/ her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.’

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.