大象传媒

by derek hyamson

SCHOOLBOY IN LIVERPOL
I was 6 when the war started in 1939. I remember the day well. We were at the last day of a holiday in Blackpool. I think it was a Sunday morning, and we were in a rock shop, and everybody was listening to the announcement on the radio.
When we arrived home our anderson shelter had already been left in our front garden, and gas masks were issued shortly afterwards.
During the early days of the war the schools were closed and we had to go in small groups to local houses to do our lessons.
It was about a year before the first real air-raids started. And then they got worse until the May Blitz
During the May blitz in 1941 we would go straight into the Anderson shelter. in the garden, in which my Father had made some make shift bunks ,out of doors. He had made a steel door, out of some sheets of metal, for the opening. We had a small paraffin lamp, for light and heat. The sound of the sirens would start ( a terrifying sound ).and we would wait for the sound of anti-air craft fire, and then the drone of the German planes, followed by the sound of exploding bombs, I would be praying to myself for them to go away (I had only just had my 8th. Birthday a couple of weeks earlier.) After a while it would go quiet, and I would think they had gone. Only to return wave, after wave. Then the relieving sound of the all clear would bring yet another night to a safe end. Although on one occasion, I remember the all clear didn't sound at all . It was the night an ammunition train was hit and explosions continued through the morning. The blast of one, I felt while standing at the door. On another occasion a raid had started, before we got to the shelter, and when I was nearing the entrance I heard a swish pass me, followed by a bang, and the following morning we found a long jagged piece of shrapnel embedded in a bin alongside the shelter. I t looks as if I had a lucky escape. After air raids, the following mornings we would go collecting shrapnel and looking at bomb damage Locally there was damage at various places. The shops on Swanside Parade were badly damaged. There was bomb damage to houses on Prescot Rd. adjacent to Ackershall Avenue, Grant road, and several houses were flattened by a landmine in Reeva Rd. Bombs also fell on the coal sidings at Knotty Ash. Sainsburys stands on that site now. We also went to the city to see the devastation there. In the evenings we would hang around the street in the blackout. And if it was cloudy it was really dark. There were no lights visible at all, and you could hardly see a couple of feet. The kerbstone's , trees, and lampposts had white bands painted on them to help you see them. We would then go home and prepare for the air raids, a terrifying experience for me Around this time four boys, found a shell of some description on some waste land near to the Boundary pub, and started throwing stones at it. It exploded killing them all One, if not all of them, attended Grant Rd. school
Some of the clothes worn at that time (1941-44) were Flying Helmets, smaller versions of RAF pilots headgear. Also balaclavas'. Clogs were a common form of footwear, because of the shortage of leather boots and shoes. . (And I often saw children in other parts of the city in bare feet.) Chord shorts and Wind cheaters were also worn by many. Clothes were rationed then, and you were issued with clothing coupons. Some parents, my own included, bought coupons from other parents who couldn't afford the clothes anyway Food rationing started early in the war. Meat , Butter, Sugar, Sweets (sweets weren't rationed at first, because there weren't any ), etc. Later bread and cakes. Eggs were in short supply and the Ministry of food issued dried powdered eggs. (meat was still on ration in 1954 when I had to take my ration book with me to do my army service) Vegetables weren't rationed but were in short supply , and people were encouraged to grow their own. Which my father did, planting in the back garden and also , were we lived in the square in Newenham Cres. We were allowed to rent the ground in front of the house. My father used to give us a penny for every bucket of horse droppings we collected for manure. A ( Pig swill. ) bin was put out in the street by the corporation for people to put their waste food , which was used for feeding pigs
There were plenty of horse drawn vehicles The bin wagon was horse drawn. As were Coal, and Milk. Mr. Sowerby, used a two wheel float drawn by a trotting horse. We had to take a jug out, and he would ladle the milk from an urn
The Co-Op laundry vans were powered by gas, which was carried in a large silver coloured textile bag on the roof. Also Utility buses , which were like articulated trucks. Some times powered by gas, which was in a small trailer at the back.
Toys as such were unavailable during the war. The only things you could get were homemade out of wood

. Trams The windows had cheese netting glued to the windows to stop flying glass . A small piece was kept clear by each seat so you could see where you were. The bulb in the lighting inside were painted dark blue for blackout purposes.

In the early part of the war. The houses on the, then, new Woolfall Heath estate, were fenced off, and used at first (I believe), to accommodate Aliens before transport to the Isle Of Man. Later, about 1942, they were used for Italian POW's These prisoners were later allowed to leave the compound . They were dressed in British battle dress, dyed purple ,with a large yellow diamond patch sewn on the back. Some of them used to go to the Granada cinema on Saturday nights. I think they were given this privilege after Italy surrendered.
There didn't seem to be any animosity shown to them. And when the National Anthem was played at the end of the film, they always stood up.
About the same period, part of Alder Hey hospital was used for British wounded servicemen.
They used to wear sky blue suits, with a white shirt, and a red tie. Those of them who were fit enough were also seen walking outside.
Emergency Water Supply (EWS) tanks were built. These were usually circular structures, about 30 feet in diameter, about 5 foot high built in brick. Locally there was one opposite the Knotty Ash pub and, If I remember right, one by Calvary church. A boy was drowned in one situated next to a church in Kensington close to Low hill. Another feature I remember was a pill-box built along side Knotty Ash station. It was cement rendered . And then painted to look like a sweet shop as its camouflage.
Around 1942-3 we were in Prescot Rd. When we saw these strange looking military vehicles with white stars painted on their sides. They were carrying troops wearing helmets we were unfamiliar with. It turned out of course they were Americans. At that time we as kids didn't know much about them. And their arrival was unannounced for obvious reasons.
These trucks, in convoy, seemed endless travelling from the docks towards Huyton.
Other things we used to see, were RAF trucks carrying aircraft fuselages and wings.

During these years we kept scrapbooks with maps of the war progress.
These comments are only a small part of the events I remember

derek hyamson

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