大象传媒

I was born in Camberwell, South East London, in 1929, so I was 10 years of age when war broke out. I remember I was in the room with my younger sister and parents and the news came over the radio that we were at war with Germany. I had no idea what war was apart from history books at school, but when I saw how upset and worried my parents were, it made me realise that this was something really serious. I don鈥檛 remember much more about that evening.

I was evacuated from Streatham and I clearly remember standing on Streatham railway station holding my sister, and my mum holding the two of us. The platform was crowded with mums and dads, probably some grandparents and us children. Mums and children were crying. My mum was doing her best to reassure us that it was best for us to be away from London and that her and dad would always love us and we would try not to be frightened. I was very frightened. It was the noise and the kids holding on to their mums and the mums trying not to cry and then the train came and we knew we had to get on to it.

We had our gas mask on a piece of string in a cardboard box. We were all terrified of having to wear this if it became necessary, thank god it didn鈥檛 鈥� you felt like you couldn鈥檛 breathe, it made a noise, the clear part misted up and it smelt of rubber.

We ended up in Shipley, West Sussex, and were taken to a hall in the village where there were lots of people, especially in uniform (WVS?). I remember I wouldn鈥檛 let go of my sister and kept saying over and over again to myself, 鈥淧lease God, don鈥檛 let them take Jean away from me鈥�. People from the village, and I suppose from around the village, were looking at the children and saying which ones they would take, but thankfully we were able to stay together. We stayed with a Mr and Mrs Haylor, and were taken to them by car with one of the uniformed ladies. They lived in a wooden bungalow painted black, and my comment on seeing it was, 鈥淥h look, a cowshed with curtains鈥�. The driver very frostily said, 鈥淭his is the house you are going to live in!鈥� and I felt very embarrassed.

A few days later two other girls turned up. They were cousins from Peckham, but not known to me. Mr and Mrs Haylor were really nice and treated us really well so we were very lucky, they had no children of their own. They were very brave to take four girls!

Mr Haylor kept ferrets so we had many rabbit dinners! The toilet was a complete shock; it stood way way down the garden 鈥� a wooden hut with a bucket and a wooden seat on top, surrounded by laurel bushes. Mr Haylor used to empty the bucket. I hope I鈥檓 wrong but I always felt sure he spread the contents on his huge vegetable patch! We never went short of food and had lots of vegetables!

We stayed there for about a year. Our parents visited a few times but they knew how unhappy we were (especially me) at being away from them, so they took us back to London. I think mum knew that the strain of being away was affecting me and my health was suffering.

If I remember rightly I think the air-raids started soon after being back in London. We moved about quite a lot during the war. We moved to Herne Hill, opposite to Brockwell Park in 1941 or 1942. London was now being bombed every night so we spent every night in a brick built shelter in Brockwell Park, next to the open air swimming pool. During one raid the swimming pool took a direct hit, just yards from where we were sheltering.

We had a terrible scare one time. My sister was playing with a friend, a few streets away. The siren went off and a neighbour across the road called over to my mum that the bomb had landed over near to where Jean was. We left the front door open and just ran, but thankfully she and the family she was with were all fine. Even now the thought of it makes me feel breathless.

One evening we were a little late leaving the house and the siren had already gone. We walked to the corner of the road and the policeman was standing on the corner. Dad said, 鈥淕ood evening officer鈥�, then we heard this 鈥榮hhhh鈥� noise. The policeman pushed Jean and I against the wall, covering us with his cape and leant his body over us and I remember the feeling of fear changing to a feeling of safety having the protection of the policeman. Dad sheltered mum. The bomb fell very near.

Another very sad thing happened. I had a friend at school called Bertram and when we left the shelter early one morning the road that my friend lived in had suffered a direct hit. When we got to school later that morning the head masters told us at assembly that Bertram, his younger sister, his parents and grandparents, had died.

We moved to East Dulwich into a flat, but the stairs got too much for mum. My mother suffered from arthritis from the age of 18. Mum paid a month鈥檚 rent for a house near Dulwich Hospital and a few evenings before we were due to move, dad borrowed a handcart from the local greengrocer, which we loaded up with lino and carpet and other various items. I went with him to the new house but as we got near to the house my dad stopped walking, looked at the house we were going to move into and said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e not moving into that house鈥�. I got very anxious and remember telling dad that we must because mum had paid a month鈥檚 rent on it, but dad said no and turned the cart round and we walked home. Mum wasn鈥檛 very happy! Three weeks later, that row of houses was completely destroyed by a bomb. For some reason dad had this feeling that it was not right for us to move to that house 鈥� how right he was!

We attended a school in East Dulwich that was almost next to a small park named Goose Green. At the top end of the green was a playground area where we were allowed to play during the break supervised by two or three teachers. During one playtime we heard a plane very low. The teachers shouted, 鈥淒own!鈥� We fell down on to the ground and heard later that day that German plane machine-gunned Rye Lane, Peckham, which was a shopping area not far from us, and that was very frightening. We heard the sound of the machine gun. I鈥檇 never heard actual gun fire before.

We lived in East Dulwich for a while, and from there on to Camberwell, where we had an Anderson shelter in the back garden, which we had to use many times. We had two cats and minutes before the siren went off they would be crying at the back door and were always the first in the shelter!

Apart from the sadness and the fear there was also a great deal of laughter. People cared for each other and shared the little they had. We were in this war together and the spirit of the Londoners shone through. I remember saying, 鈥淚f I was old enough, I would be a land girl - to do my bit during the war.鈥�

I was sixteen when the war ended and very different from the child I was. I had grown up quickly during those six years and felt sheer happiness and relief to know the war had finally ended. VE Day was spent with friends and family: singing, dancing, lots of hugs, lots of kisses, and lots of tears.

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