大象传媒

We were living in rural Dorset during the War.My father was a Doctor and therefore in a protected occupation, so he had a car and limited petrol. We had bikes and although the beaches were protected by a grid-iron of metal fences to prevent invasion, we could get down to one at Osmington for the occasional swim. It was three miles and my brother got there on his trycycle!

We often saw enemy planes fly over - occasionally they would "ditch" making a large crater in a distant field.

In 1944 the American Army arrived locally and there were two camps in our village. The Officers Mess was in a requisitioned large house. I can remember my parents going to dinner there in the pitch dark, my mother in an evening dress slung over her shoulder!

The American soldiers were very hospitable too and gave a party for all the children in the village. There you were given a "buddy" to look after you and he encouraged you to eat everything; this was a feast we hadn't seen in living memory.

When DDay arrived we were in Weymouth and were amazed to see the embarking troops throwing their money at us on the seafront. We quickly stopped it rolling into the gutters. "Its no good to us now," brought home to us (aged 11, 9 & 7) the reality of War.

My mother would listen avidly to the six o'clock news, indeed we were forbidden to speak while it was on. She had a brother in France and several cousins in the fighting, including one who sadly died on the Burma Railway.
Churchill's voice I shall remember always, keeping up the spirits of the nations through news of sinking ships, defeats, and retreats. Not that that is how he described them.
The Ministry of Information always struck a positive note too.

Everyone had trouble managing on the adeuqate but limited rations. It was a bit easier in the country as we could get rabbits off the farmers and had our own chichens and geese. My mother grew some raspberries and made some jam using the sugar ration for us all for a week. Leaving it to cool by the kitchen window she was furious when my brothers cricket ball not only broke the window but also spoilt the precious jam with the glass splinters.

We had an Andersen shelter in the kitchen made of very sharp cornered and unyielding iron we had many a bruise from cutting the corners too fine! We also had an outside shelter well away from the house. It was damp and cold when we trooped out there in the middle of the night during a Raid. I can remember the searchlights on the swastika-marked planes.

A few Italian prisoners were working on local farms and would smile and wave on us children out for a walk with our dogs. They were certainly not threatening.

Like all our neighbours, our flowerbeds were filled with vegetables and our kitchen garden was commandered by a nearby Nursery to grow potatoes and fruit.

My mother ran a small school at our house and one room was taken by a Couple of Landgirls. Our neighbours large house had a whole school from the East End of London there plus their teachers, and their schooling continued in a barn. We had them all over for a picnic the year they were there.It must have been a strange life for them, so used to streets and noise.

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