大象传媒

STORY OF THE BLITZ

Liverpool 1941

When I was a child I lived in a big house with my parents and my two younger brothers, George and Terry, my grandparents, Margaret and Patrick Costello, their two sons Richard and Vincent, and their daughter Sarah, who was nine months younger than me and was my auntie. My other auntie lived with us; she was twenty-two. My mother and dad had looked after her since she was eleven when her parents died. She was my dad鈥檚 younger sister. My dad was in the Territorials so when war broke out he was drafted away. The house was number 60 Prescot Street where the new Royal Hospital now stands.
We were sent away on the evacuation which we didn鈥檛 like. George and I were sent to Colwyn Bay. Sal and Vin went to Rhos-on-Sea.
It was a terrible day when we went, with our gas mask and a pillow case each with our clothes in. The ride on the train was quite nice; we had never been that far on a train before. When we arrived at the end of our journey we were all allocated to different houses. At the first house we were taken to, the lady took us into a room and looked into our pillow cases. Each of the children being evacuated had been given a tin of corned beef and some chocolate. The lady took out the tins of corned beef and the chocolate and called to the teacher we were with and said, 鈥淚 can only take the girl.鈥�
George and I cried because we wanted to be together. We were then taken on a horse and cart to another house which belonged to a doctor and his wife. They would not have needed the chocolate or the corned beef. The house was the biggest we had ever seen. I can still smell the roses. We had our own bed each with beautiful eiderdowns of quilted satin. They also had a bathroom and indoor toilet which we did not have. It was lovely not having to get in a tin bath by the fire but in a big, white bath.
We went to school each day by car and were picked up by car. We felt like toffs!
When George and I lived with the doctor and his wife (I think their name was Williams) on a Saturday, for a treat, they used to take us to town. They bought us new shoes. I don鈥檛 think you had to have clothes coupons then. If they did, they must have used their own. But the best part was when they took us into Woolworth鈥檚 where everything was 鈥�3d 鈥� no more than 6d!鈥� I remember George got a bugle and I got a sewing set. We each spent the whole sixpence then they took us to a caf茅 where the waitresses dressed like Aunty Doll with the black dress and white, frilly apron and frilly hat. They had no children so they made a fuss of us both.

But the doctor鈥檚 wife took ill and he could no longer look after us so we had to go away. We were sent to live with two sisters on a small farm. It was near Rhos-on-Sea but nowhere near Vin and Sally. My mum came to see us and brought Terry with her. We were allowed to go into the garden and pick flowers for her to take home. It was awful when she went away. We could not settle. As it was near Christmas we wanted to go home; arrangements were made for us and Sal and Vin to go home for Christmas. We were all very happy to be home even though the air raids were awful. When you heard the sirens it was really frightening. It was bad to think that my mother and the rest of the family had had to live through that day and night. But my granddad was an ARP warden. He had been wounded when he was in the Royal Navy in the First World War
One night he was getting ready to go on duty. There was a raid on so we were all in the basement. Richard and Aunty Doll were at work. Her name was Josephine but her nickname was Doll because she was so beautiful. She worked at Sampson and Barlow鈥檚, a posh restaurant in London Road. She used to wear a black dress with a pure white, frilly apron and cuffs and a white, frilly headdress.
Just before my granddad went out he was going to put some coal on the fire. I said, 鈥淚鈥檒l do it, Granddad.鈥� But when I went into the coal hole with the shovel, I saw my mum鈥檚 friend standing in the corner. It was pitch black but I could see her. I went back into the basement and told my granddad. He said, 鈥淪it down; I鈥檒l get the coal.鈥�
Next morning my granddad brought the awful news that Mrs. Middleton, my mum鈥檚 friend who I had seen in the coal hole, had been killed. I still think of that moment and always will.
But then we got blitzed ourselves.
My granddad was on duty. We were in the basement and my nana went upstairs to prepare something for him for when he came in. It seems there was a convoy of ammunition going up Prescot Street, or so we were told, when a land mine dropped and blew most of the street to bits. We were all trapped in the basement, crying because we were covered by dust or cement, I don鈥檛 know what it was, when I heard Vinnie. He asked us to get hold of his hand. He dragged Sally out first, took her through the back basement, up the steps into the yard and told her to sit on the toilet until he came back. He then came back for me. I was surprised to see that there were no walls. I went into the toilet with Sally. We were both crying. Later Vin came back with the baby, Terry who only had a nappy and sock on. Sal and I had a vest and navy blue knickers on; we were freezing. We didn鈥檛 see Vin again. We cried and huddled together to keep warm. Then we tried to keep the baby from crying by singing hymns. We were singing 鈥楩aith of our Fathers鈥� when we heard this big bang, and then we were just all sitting on the wooden toilet but the roof and walls had gone. I don鈥檛 know how long we were there but an ARP warden came and took us into an air raid shelter where there were a lot of people.
One woman said: 鈥淎h! Look at these poor kids!鈥� and put her coat around us. The noise of the bombs was awful. Then a policeman came and said he was taking people up to an underground part of a big piano shop that was at the top of Prescot Street opposite the police Bridewell. Everyone went with him. The big woman took her coat and left, leaving the three of us on our own again, cold, frightened and not knowing what had happened to our mums.
I think it was the next morning when a policeman shone his light on us and couldn鈥檛 believe that we had been on our own all night. He took us to the Majestic, a posh picture house that we had never been in before, on the corner of Pembroke Street (or Place). We were given blankets to put around us, and cocoa. Terry was given a bottle with a teat at either end. We were warm at last but still didn鈥檛 know what had happened to our mums. Everyone was dirty, with all stuff like whitewash or white dust in their hair. Children were crying 鈥� but they had their mums with them; they were lucky.
We were so happy when my granddad came to the Majestic with some people he had dug out from somewhere. He asked a lady to look after us until he found my mum and nana. Vin had got my mum out. She was badly injured. She was taken to hospital by ambulance. They had to go a different way because Prescot Street was on fire. While the ambulance was going along Moss Street, another bomb dropped somewhere and my mum fell out of the ambulance. She said all she remembers was people trying shoes on from where a window had been. It was a posh shop so I suppose there were nice shoes there.
She was seen to at the Royal Infirmary. Her legs were heavily bandaged and she signed herself out to look for us and her mum. What we didn鈥檛 know was that my nana had been killed in the hallway and my brother George was still trapped. My dad was in the Far East so could not come home. She was left to look for somewhere for us to live, get us some clothes and bury her mother. 鈥� No counselling then!
She went to Mount Pleasant where someone was supplying blitz people with clothes and food. So we had clothes to wear again. Then she had to look for somewhere for us to live.
The only place she could think of was the house of an old great-uncle in Radcliffe Street. I was always frightened of him because he had cross-eyes and a crooked nail on his small finger which he always frightened us all with. In the middle of his kitchen he had an iron table which acted as an air raid shelter. We slept under that; my mum slept on the floor. He said Doll could have the spare bed because she worked late of an evening. (Aunty Doll was due to be married on Boxing Day. Her boyfriend was an engineer in the Royal Navy and was due home when we got bombed. For days after, you could see bits of her wedding dress on a piece of wall, just blowing, or so we were told.) My granddad spent much of his time at the cold storage unit in Pembroke Place which was the place the ARP had their unit.
My brother George had been trapped under the house. My nana had been killed. Vin could not get to them. In the 鈥楨cho鈥� he was called: Boy Hero of the Blitz. He was just fourteen. My brother George was taken out after about three days. They stopped the digging because someone thought they heard him shouting. When they got him out he said he knew a soldier would get him out because his dad was a soldier. Both he and Vin got a ten shilling note off the Lord Mayor. After George came out of hospital he went away to a convalescent home for some time. Still no-one to help my mum. I think she also was a Hero of the Blitz!
So Sal, Vin and Richard had no mum. Richard was due to be married so he and his girlfriend got married and went to live with some friends. At least he had somewhere to live.
Then my mum was told she could have a three-bedroom house in Dovecot. Doll and her boyfriend got a special licence and got married 鈥� no party or fancy, white dress, just a black dress and hat. So she also had somewhere to live.
My mum, granddad, Vin, Sal, George, Terry and myself went to the house in Dovecot. On our first night there, there was a heavy raid. My mum had put a blanket up to the windows. Then the door nearly got knocked down by someone banging and shouting. My mum opened the door. The man was shouting so loud he frightened us. He said she was showing a spot of light. My mum said, 鈥淲ell, if you can cover it any better, come in and do it!鈥� He was amazed when he saw us children just sitting on the floor 鈥� no furniture, no fire because we had no coal. He told us he would be back. He was the caretaker from the school opposite.
He came back with his wife and daughter. They had blankets, a rocking chair, cups and saucers, bread and cheese and some lovely cakes. We thought we were in heaven. In later days they brought other household goods; they were our guardian angels. They brought an ironing board 鈥� a wooden one. My mum used that until she died in 1973. I am still using that board to this day.
My dad did not come home until 1944-45. He was in the Eighth Army known as the Desert Rats. I know he was away fighting the War, but my mum had her own War to fight.
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Vin went away to sea when he was sixteen. He was in the Merchant Navy.
Sal emigrated to Canada with Richard and his family. She married Sandy, An Italian and had a daughter, Sandra.
George was killed at the age of twelve by a wall falling on him. My mum could see where he was killed every time she stood at the sink. To survive what happened to him in the Blitz and for that to happen to him! It鈥檚 a wonder my mum stayed sane 鈥� but she did.
I grew up to marry a wonderful man. We had eight beautiful children, five daughters and three sons. I now have seventeen grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and one more on the way. Sadly, I lost my wonderful husband last year. But I have a wonderful family and I have him to thank for that.
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BOSIE BECKETT

Copyright: F.Crowney 2003

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