大象传媒

At the start of the Second World War I lived in Seaford, on the South Coast, until I was 13. We had 2 evacuees billeted with us. They had to be evacuated somewhere else when the danger of bombing over the South Coast threatened all our security. I in turn also became an evacuee and was sent to Bedford.
It was a very difficult and traumatic time. I left my mohter Gladys Hollands and my father Henry. I was allocated to a family called the Smiths who lived in Melbourne Street. I think they were horse dealers. After a few weeks my mother moved up to Bedford as well because her nerves were not good. We found a bedsit in Ampthill Street. My father moved up to be with us but the landlady of the bedsit wouldn't let a man sleep in the house. My father had to sleep in a lorry on the Plaza cinema car park. That wasn't desirable or very comfortable so we managed to get a flat over Dawson's Garage. I can't remember the name of the road that it was in but it was a great improvement on the previous living accommodation.
I went to Silver Jubilee School but only for three weeks as I was then school leaving age at 14.
I got a job with my mum at Meltis on the production line. We walked to work. The working day was from 7.30a.m. - 5.30p.m. and we had lunch breaks and tea breaks. We took packed lunches, often with an apple and Spam sandwiches. Tea was supplied which you had to pay for. We wore overalls and a net hat called a snood.
Our job was to fill boxes with all different kinds of sweets. If we were tempted to eat any we would be sacked but we could buy bags of reject sweets. I remember New Berry fruits in particular. I don't recall there being any air raids or threat of them when we were at work.
When I was 15 I left Meltis and got an apprenticeship as a sales assistant at a shop in Bedford called The Busy Bee. This was a shop that sold clothes. By then our family lived in Christie Road in a flat.
My mum finished working at Meltis too and spent the rest of the war as a housewife.
My father worked at Cardington Camp as a stoker and I changed jobs when I was nearly 17 to do war work at Cardington Camp repairing barrage balloons. I wore a boiler suit but no shoes for the work as it necessitated being inside the balloon and they would have damaged the material. I had to mend them with patches of rubberised fabric that was stuck on. I was moved on to mending parachutes with machines. I also worked in head office doing some secretarial work for a Group Captain Oates.
We were very much a team working together at Cardington. We had training for the work. I worked 7.30a.m. - 5.30 p.m. It meant an early start on the bus, a number 19, to get to work on time. I remember another evacuee who also worked there; she was called Minnie and had been evacuated from the East End of London.
We had a canteen for our breaks and plenty of good food. I worked there until the end of the war when I was 19.
I don't recall us being deprived of food through the war years although we didn't always have much fruit. I remember especially Spam Fritters! Also dried egg. There were lots of little shops where you bought your shopping, quite different to all the supermarkets of today.
We would often go out shopping or for a walk along the Embankment, which we knew as Monkey's Parade!
We used to make clothing when coupons allowed but it wasn't too difficult to buy ready-made clothes.
I stayed in Bedford for the next 54 years until I moved to Northamptonshire.

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