大象传媒

During the first years of the War I lived in Melton, near Woodbridge in Suffolk. I attended Melton School (known afterwards as Melton Old School).

Initially it was considered that Kent, London, and surroundings, were most at risk from attack. Children from London were evacuated to Suffolk, including our village (close to the Deben Estuary) which was regarded as a safe area.

We had rationing, and we could only get sweets in Woodbridge, where we bought the smallest because they went furthest.

They dug up half of the School's playing field to make allotments. We kept chickens and grew our own vegetables.

As the war progressed we were directly on the flightpath of raids and missiles from Holland. We had to take the little ones to the shelter when the warning sirens went off. Once a child was still in the toilets when this happened, and we all dived to the ground as we heard the doodlebug come over.

One day during the winter we were in our classroom. We didn't hear any siren go off but suddenly all the windows blew in. We dived underneath the desks. Everyone had to get up carefully because of all the broken glass. We were sent home early.

On another occasion we were at home in Melton Terrace. We heard a doodlebug pass over and went behind the door. A milk bottle broke.

My mother and father were both nurses at near-by St Audry's, a psychiatric hospital. The bomb hit the hospital, killing patients and staff. Our parents didn't tell us about this at the time, and we only learnt about it from Mother after the war.

Father decided that two of us (the youngest stayed) should be sent to stay with Aunty Nenna in Aberdare, Wales. People spoke Welsh there. It was quiet.

We came back just as the Japanese surrendered. I can still remember travelling across London in a bus, and seeing bits of paper floating down.

These memories are recorded by Ipswich Museum and reproduced with Pat Fuller's permission.

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