大象传媒

This is a just a small collection of memories that I have from the war when I was a small girl aged between 2 and 8.
I remember my mother walking me in the pram along Southsea seafront where huge rolls of barbed wire were placed along the sand as fortification against German Landings.
We had lodgings in Fratton while my Dad had short leave from the Navy - it was early morning, just getting light and we heard a buzz bomb coming over. The noise cut out but the bomb carried on travelling, then it sudenly stopped and dropped. That morning it fell near Fratton bridge and demolished a row of litle shops including one where my mum used to buy her wool and knitting patterns. Also, while in Fratton, I attended school and nearly everday we would all have to go to the air raid shelters when the German planes came over, dropping bombs on their way to London.
We were staying with my Auntie Midge in Southsea. I was playing in the garden and I heard my Auntie shouting to mum "Lilly, fetch Jill in, there's a plane coming over-". I was scooped up just as a German plane flew over on it's way back out to sea. The plane had been hit and was spending all it's ammunition as it flew over, eventually crashing in to the Solent. We were unharmed but it caused a lot of damage to other houses. We visited the corner shop where I was born in Northend - I remember the gas lamps on the walls and they had a pianola which I was very taken with. The shop was untouched but the surrounding houses had been bombed and windows blown out.
My sisiter and I used to sleep under the dining room table because it was considered to be a safe place. Everyone had to have blackout curtains at the windows so that lights wouldn't show. People would knock at the door and tell you even if there was only a chink of light showing. These blackouts were meant to fool the Germans. I remeber seeing the searchlights and huge barrage balloons filled with gas, floating high in the sky as a deterrent against enemy planes. I remeber there were cartoons in the newspapers about barrage ballons - they gave them funny faces!!!
Two of my uncles were killed within weeks of eachother. One died on the HMS Barham which sank with all the crew, the other had joined the Canadian Army and was on his way back to Britain. I remember how devastated our family was and my Nanna Hyde crying but trying to be brave.
My mum took me to Glasgow on a train which was carrying injured service men in most of the carriages.They were being taken to a service hospital in Scotland. Injuries ranged from major to minor and I remember the men in our carriage were very young, tired, and distressed. Mum fell over and badly injured her leg on the platform. It frightened me but people came to help. Because of the blackout it was dark everywhere and we couldn't see what was happening.
The reason we went to Glasgow was because my Dad's ship had been bombed and it had been brought to the Clyde for repair. The crew were given leave so I finally got to spend a few days with my daddy. He was awarded a medal for staying at his post when the ship had been bombed - he was a telegraphist and continually gave out the 'mayday' signal while the rest of the crew faught the flames and damage all around him.
My Grandfather, Bram, was in the RAF and used to bring goodies home, like chocolate, sugar, etc. Everything was rationed then but there was what was called the 'Black Market', in other words getting these goodies was illegal. But to be honest, most people were at it so there was no danger of being caught out!
All garden railings were taken away to factories to make armament, in fact anything like that was commandeered for the war effort. Nanna and Bram's garden gate and railings were taken and when I saw what was happening I started to cry, the frustration of wanting to know what was happening sometimes got a little too much.
When we stayed with Nanna and Bram in Hitchin we would stand in their bedroom looking through the big bay window, staring for hours at the yellowy red sky engulfing london as bomb after bomb was dropped.
To me all this was part of everyday life, everything carried on - school for us children, shopping, housework, cooking, etc. for Mum and Nanna. Stragely enough, being a child at the time I got used to living with the war. I accepted it and it became part of my life, I'm sure it was very diferent for the adults though.
As food was rationed and pretty much in short supply the Ministry of Food organised things like dried egg and orage juice - which I can still taste! The dried egg could be scrambled or used in cakes - I loved it -to me it was delicious! The orange juice was very thing, nothing like the juice today, but still pure and tasty. Bram's garden was full of vegetables, meat was in short supply but I'm not conscious of going without. However the shortage has done me some good, I've grown up with a love of vegetables, which were in plentiful supply! Everything was homemade; stews, pies, cakes, etc. Mum, Nanna Hyde, and Nanna Bellinger were all good cooks. When I used to stay with Nanna Bellinger in Brize Norton, the lady next door had chickens her back garden. All our discarded potato peel and cabbage leaves were given to the chickens and they produced lovelly eggs - rich and tasty - what a treat they were! Much better todays eggs. It didn't seem like there was a war on when I was at Brize, it was hardly touched because Hitler didn't want Oxford to be bombed because of all the learning facilities. He wanted them kept safe for his seat of learning when he had conquered Britain. Brize Norton was a very small air field at that time, so Oxfordshire had it very easy compared to other parts of the country. Life consisted of church fetes, cricket matches, playing in the fileds,visiting Nanna's friends and neighbours for tea and home made cakes - seemingly worlds away from bombs and devastation.
The school in Southsea was close to our house. There was a little corner shop where you could buy an apple or a liquerice stick (they really were a stick because they were literally bits of twig dipped in liquerice - you sucked on it and threw the thing away!) I think they were a farthing or halfpenny, and believe it or not we all loved our little sticks and I don't remeber getting splinters at all! That little corner shop was eventuall bombed and I remember us children would look at all the rubble and wonder where we would get our little treats from.
When I was three years old MUM and I moved to a bungalow in POrchester not far from POrtsmouth. After a while Nanna and Bram got so worried about us they brought us back to Hitchin, Hertfordshire. Because the war wasn't expected to last much longer, Mum tried to keep the bungalow going paying 10 shillings a week for rent. Tme went by and eventually Mum gave the bungalow up. Funnily enough Porchester was never touched by bombs!
Because my dad was away so much during the war he missed so much of my young childhood. I was always shown his photo though and I got so excited when I was told he would be home on leave. The hardest part was saying good bye to him again, and there were many tears. He sent me beautiful letters which I have kept.
In spite of everything I remember being happy and loved very much by all my family - thankfully we got through those awful years.

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