大象传媒

I was born in Hull in 1934 and was just 5 when WW2 broke out. I was evacuated along with my brother David and my mother to York on September 2 1939, the day before war was officially declared.
My mother was allowed to accompany me along with other mothers as a helper. The reason being, I belief, is that although I was 5 I hadn't actually started school, I should have started in that September so I was perhaps classed as under school age.

On the morning of September 2 we all had to assemble in the local school hall and we were issued with gas masks. Then we were put on a train to an unknown destination, because we were diverted away from the main line the journey to York took all day and my mother was convinced we had arrived in Scotland but it was actually Haxby near York. On arrival at Haxby we were given a meal and so many of us including my family were taken by buses to Clifton Without. We were then allocated to a family, having been picked over in the church hall. My brother was taken by a nice family straight away my mother and I were about the last to be placed because although many people were keen to have a little girl they weren't so keen to have my mother as well and she wouldn't be parted from me. I recall having to walk to various houses and being very very tired.

At last we were taken in by a young couple with a baby I thought they seemed very nice and was looking forward to playing with the baby, however my mother wasn't suited, as we had to sleep on the floor. So next morning we were back at the billeting officer, I remember that first night hearing her crying. The next day we had to attend a service in York Minster and we were stood on the steps outside when we heard that the War had actually started. I recall seeing everyone crying and hugging each other but didn't really understand what it was all about. At the next billet a family who lived in Rawcliffe lane, again my Mum wasn't suited she complained that we were only given bully beef (corned beef) and they were eating different food. She made me go and look in the dustbin to see if there was any evidence of this, tins of Spam or fruit etc. Anyway we were back to the billeting officer next day. We must have stopped with at least 6 families that I can recall some must have been near the Aerodrome at Clifton as I remember hearing and seeing the planes going over (not a very safe place if there was an air raid).
The final straw for my mother came one morning when her and the lady of the house were having a violent argument I recall this lady was cleaning out the fire whilst I was eating my breakfast when I suddenly became the target of her annoyance and was accused of eating my Puffed Wheat too loudly - that was it Mum decided to return home to Hull with me leaving my brother behind.
The trouble was I think that two women don't usually get on in one house. Up to this time nothing much had been happening in Hull, not many raids and it was called the "phoney war" so people were lulled into a false sense of security. However shortly after we returned the bombing started in earnest. Although we didn't live near the docks or in the centre of Hull we were near the railway lines, Dairycoates sidings and lots of bombs dropped nearby. Every night we had to sleep in our Anderson Shelter at the bottom of the garden. We had four bunks and a paraffin stove and even now the smell of paraffin brings it all back. I slept through most of the raids but one night I remember hearing the bombs whizzing over our heads and they landed in the park, 2 minutes away. Every night we could see the fires in the centre of the town.
My grandma lived near the docks and once my Mum decided to visit her to see if she was OK because my school had been bombed I had to go with her. We had just arrived on the bus in the city centre when we heard the sirens. We all had to lie on the floor while bombs dropped all around us. My Gran`s was OK that time but she was bombed out later and came to stop with us. One night there was a land mine at the bottom of the street and a few houses were completely destroyed. Our windows were broken and the furniture damaged, all mains services water, gas etc must have been affected - I remember having to eat our dinner which was supplied by a mobile canteen in the street.
It was about this time I contacted diphtheria and I was taken by ambulance to the Fever Hospital in Cottingham now Castle Hill Hospital I was there for 2 months and never saw my parents all that time. There was an epidemic at the time as there was no vaccine programme. I recall being carried, in a red blanket, to the ambulance and a big crowd had gathered - better than the soaps on TV these days. Some women were crying and calling out to me I remember it as though was yesterday.
Because of the air raids all the phone lines were down and the only way and the only way my parents could find out how I was to look in the evening paper. Every patient was given a number and every night there was a report from the hospital a list of numbers stating the condition of the patient.
My mum sent lots of flowers and sweets but everything had to be pooled. All toys taken in were placed in a big cupboard and when you were a little better you were taken to choose a toy. There were quite a few "rough" lads from East Hull, near the docks and they were telling me that there was a funny rag doll in the cupboard. When I went to the cupboards I saw it was the doll I had taken with me to the hospital but because I was frightened of these boys I left it in the cupboard. To this day I feel ashamed and remorseful that I abandoned it. Strangely enough 60 years later my own grandson was in the same hospital, now the heart hospital Castle Hill. The sister told me that there were some of the old wooden wards that were used as a fever hospital still there. I told her I had been a patient there during the war and I had returned for my doll!
When the blitz really started in Hull my brother and I was sent to a great Aunt in Rawcliffe near Goole (when we were in York it was Rawcliffe lane which is how I remember) We stopped there for about a year. My Mum who was back in Hull visited when she could and I recall waiting for her coming off the bus from Hull fearing she wouldn't be on it. I also remember standing in the bread queue in the corner shop and feeling this fear, like a pain in the pit of my stomach, when I heard all the women discussing the bombing in Hull the previous night and knowing my parents were there.
In January 1942 just before the Baedeker raid in York we all moved to York. My Dad worked as a Fireman on the railway and was promoted to Engine Driver.
He had a choice of going to York or Darlington but we persuaded him to go to York because we had heard about Rowntree`s chocolate.
Because of the war houses were scarce so we rented a wooden bungalow at the side of Monkstray.
It was very primitive, no electricity, only gas mantles, a fire to cook on, which had to be black-leaded. Baths were taken in front of the fire in a tin bath, and the Privy was down the garden, but as kids we loved it because I had all the stray to play on and it was all open ground at the back and we had a great big garden.
We kept lots of chickens, rabbits and geese.
Once my Dad, who was always working long shifts on the railway had returned late at night and had to warm up his dinner my Mother had left out for him. Because of the black out and he couldn鈥檛 see very well he ate the chicken mash by mistake. My Mother said " Did you enjoy your dinner?" He said " It was very tasty but it had lots of little bones in it".
I remember the night York station was bombed. My Dad was on duty and when he arrived he had to help put out all the fires. He always said he propped up his bike on the station platform but found out later it was an unexploded bomb.
Most of the bombing was actually in the Bootham, The Mounts and Bishopthorpe areas.
My Mum`s friend lived in Nunthorpe Road which is just off Bishopthorpe Road and her house received a direct hit. She was in the shelter but an ATS girl who lodged with them was under the table in the dining room.
Another friend lived near the Gasworks in Monkgate and her house was damaged and a bomb was dropped near there.
I remember some children coming to Town Hall school that had been bombed out from the Layerthorpe, Mansfield Street areas. We were relatively safe in Heworth.
During the war we had my Mum`s sister and two cousins living with us whilst my Uncle was in India.
My Auntie used to like to go dancing and became very friendly with a Frenchman, who would often come round in an old battered car hoping to take Auntie for a spin.
However, my Father who didn`t approve of this made her take all the children with her.
Although that didn`t go down very well we came in useful for pushing the car when it ran out of petrol. It usually did because we didn`t have much petrol.
I can see Auntie now sat there in all her finery while we and her gentleman friend we struggling to push the car to get it going.
On V.E. Day we didn`t have a street party. My Mum said there were only a few bungalows where we lived so it wasn`t a street, but I think it was because she wanted to go dancing with Auntie in York. I had to look after my smaller cousins and go and collect the bits for the chickens. I recall going along to my Mother`s friend and seeing all the streets having their parties. All the children in fancy dress clothes and all the tables loaded with ice cream and jellies.
I vowed then I would never miss out on anything again.
I was born in Hull in 1934 and was just 5 when WW2 broke out. I was evacuated along with my brother David and my mother to York on September 2 1939, the day before war was officially declared.
My mother was allowed to accompany me along with other mothers as a helper. The reason being, I belief, is that although I was 5 I hadn't actually started school, I should have started in that September so I was perhaps classed as under school age.

On the morning of September 2 we all had to assemble in the local school hall and we were issued with gas masks. Then we were put on a train to an unknown destination, because we were diverted away from the main line the journey to York took all day and my mother was convinced we had arrived in Scotland but it was actually Haxby near York. On arrival at Haxby we were given a meal and so many of us including my family were taken by buses to Clifton Without. We were then allocated to a family, having been picked over in the church hall. My brother was taken by a nice family straight away my mother and I were about the last to be placed because although many people were keen to have a little girl they weren't so keen to have my mother as well and she wouldn't be parted from me. I recall having to walk to various houses and being very very tired.

At last we were taken in by a young couple with a baby I thought they seemed very nice and was looking forward to playing with the baby, however my mother wasn't suited, as we had to sleep on the floor. So next morning we were back at the billeting officer, I remember that first night hearing her crying. The next day we had to attend a service in York Minster and we were stood on the steps outside when we heard that the War had actually started. I recall seeing everyone crying and hugging each other but didn't really understand what it was all about. At the next billet a family who lived in Rawcliffe lane, again my Mum wasn't suited she complained that we were only given bully beef (corned beef) and they were eating different food. She made me go and look in the dustbin to see if there was any evidence of this, tins of Spam or fruit etc. Anyway we were back to the billeting officer next day. We must have stopped with at least 6 families that I can recall some must have been near the Aerodrome at Clifton as I remember hearing and seeing the planes going over (not a very safe place if there was an air raid).
The final straw for my mother came one morning when her and the lady of the house were having a violent argument I recall this lady was cleaning out the fire whilst I was eating my breakfast when I suddenly became the target of her annoyance and was accused of eating my Puffed Wheat too loudly - that was it Mum decided to return home to Hull with me leaving my brother behind.
The trouble was I think that two women don't usually get on in one house. Up to this time nothing much had been happening in Hull, not many raids and it was called the "phoney war" so people were lulled into a false sense of security. However shortly after we returned the bombing started in earnest. Although we didn't live near the docks or in the centre of Hull we were near the railway lines, Dairycoates sidings and lots of bombs dropped nearby. Every night we had to sleep in our Anderson Shelter at the bottom of the garden. We had four bunks and a paraffin stove and even now the smell of paraffin brings it all back. I slept through most of the raids but one night I remember hearing the bombs whizzing over our heads and they landed in the park, 2 minutes away. Every night we could see the fires in the centre of the town.
My grandma lived near the docks and once my Mum decided to visit her to see if she was OK because my school had been bombed I had to go with her. We had just arrived on the bus in the city centre when we heard the sirens. We all had to lie on the floor while bombs dropped all around us. My Gran`s was OK that time but she was bombed out later and came to stop with us. One night there was a land mine at the bottom of the street and a few houses were completely destroyed. Our windows were broken and the furniture damaged, all mains services water, gas etc must have been affected - I remember having to eat our dinner which was supplied by a mobile canteen in the street.
It was about this time I contacted diphtheria and I was taken by ambulance to the Fever Hospital in Cottingham now Castle Hill Hospital I was there for 2 months and never saw my parents all that time. There was an epidemic at the time as there was no vaccine programme. I recall being carried, in a red blanket, to the ambulance and a big crowd had gathered - better than the soaps on TV these days. Some women were crying and calling out to me I remember it as though was yesterday.
Because of the air raids all the phone lines were down and the only way and the only way my parents could find out how I was to look in the evening paper. Every patient was given a number and every night there was a report from the hospital a list of numbers stating the condition of the patient.
My mum sent lots of flowers and sweets but everything had to be pooled. All toys taken in were placed in a big cupboard and when you were a little better you were taken to choose a toy. There were quite a few "rough" lads from East Hull, near the docks and they were telling me that there was a funny rag doll in the cupboard. When I went to the cupboards I saw it was the doll I had taken with me to the hospital but because I was frightened of these boys I left it in the cupboard. To this day I feel ashamed and remorseful that I abandoned it. Strangely enough 60 years later my own grandson was in the same hospital, now the heart hospital Castle Hill. The sister told me that there were some of the old wooden wards that were used as a fever hospital still there. I told her I had been a patient there during the war and I had returned for my doll!
When the blitz really started in Hull my brother and I was sent to a great Aunt in Rawcliffe near Goole (when we were in York it was Rawcliffe lane which is how I remember) We stopped there for about a year. My Mum who was back in Hull visited when she could and I recall waiting for her coming off the bus from Hull fearing she wouldn't be on it. I also remember standing in the bread queue in the corner shop and feeling this fear, like a pain in the pit of my stomach, when I heard all the women discussing the bombing in Hull the previous night and knowing my parents were there.
In January 1942 just before the Baedeker raid in York we all moved to York. My Dad worked as a Fireman on the railway and was promoted to Engine Driver.
He had a choice of going to York or Darlington but we persuaded him to go to York because we had heard about Rowntree`s chocolate.
Because of the war houses were scarce so we rented a wooden bungalow at the side of Monkstray.
It was very primitive, no electricity, only gas mantles, a fire to cook on, which had to be black-leaded. Baths were taken in front of the fire in a tin bath, and the Privy was down the garden, but as kids we loved it because I had all the stray to play on and it was all open ground at the back and we had a great big garden.
We kept lots of chickens, rabbits and geese.
Once my Dad, who was always working long shifts on the railway had returned late at night and had to warm up his dinner my Mother had left out for him. Because of the black out and he couldn鈥檛 see very well he ate the chicken mash by mistake. My Mother said " Did you enjoy your dinner?" He said " It was very tasty but it had lots of little bones in it".
I remember the night York station was bombed. My Dad was on duty and when he arrived he had to help put out all the fires. He always said he propped up his bike on the station platform but found out later it was an unexploded bomb.
Most of the bombing was actually in the Bootham, The Mounts and Bishopthorpe areas.
My Mum`s friend lived in Nunthorpe Road which is just off Bishopthorpe Road and her house received a direct hit. She was in the shelter but an ATS girl who lodged with them was under the table in the dining room.
Another friend lived near the Gasworks in Monkgate and her house was damaged and a bomb was dropped near there.
I remember some children coming to Town Hall school that had been bombed out from the Layerthorpe, Mansfield Street areas. We were relatively safe in Heworth.
During the war we had my Mum`s sister and two cousins living with us whilst my Uncle was in India.
My Auntie used to like to go dancing and became very friendly with a Frenchman, who would often come round in an old battered car hoping to take Auntie for a spin.
However, my Father who didn`t approve of this made her take all the children with her.
Although that didn`t go down very well we came in useful for pushing the car when it ran out of petrol. It usually did because we didn`t have much petrol.
I can see Auntie now sat there in all her finery while we and her gentleman friend we struggling to push the car to get it going.
On V.E. Day we didn`t have a street party. My Mum said there were only a few bungalows where we lived so it wasn`t a street, but I think it was because she wanted to go dancing with Auntie in York. I had to look after my smaller cousins and go and collect the bits for the chickens. I recall going along to my Mother`s friend and seeing all the streets having their parties. All the children in fancy dress clothes and all the tables loaded with ice cream and jellies.
I vowed then I would never miss out on anything again.

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