- Contributed by听
- BletchleyPark
- People in story:听
- Anne Clarke Nee Thompson and Her mother Mary Elizabeth Thompson
- Location of story:听
- Bedford
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4057517
- Contributed on:听
- 12 May 2005
This story has been submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Bletchley Park on behalf on Anne Clarke and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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When I heard the war had ended I danced from one end of the Bedford Embankment to the other. We got up a line to dance the conga. I was completely elated as we had been been affected. One time there was a land mine that dropped near to us where we lived in Queens Park, and all the windows were blown out of the house including the front door. My baby brother was 11 years younger than me so I ran upstairs to check on him. He was already standing already up in his blanket. After that he wanted his breakfast even though it was 2鈥檆lock in the morning!
On VE day you could hardly move 鈥 the embankment was packed. Everyone was singing, dancing, cheering and waving flags. There were people playing music with mouth organs. It was such a relief to know the war was over. Everyone seemed to feel the same. The one thing I remembered is everyone was just so thoughtful during the war.
When I went out on VE day my mother said I had to be home by 9 o鈥檆lock but I stayed out till 3 in the morning, you see I thought she meant 9鈥檕鈥檆lock in the morning not at night! When I got back mother was in bed and awake but she never scolded me. She was happy for me to enjoy myself. I think her first words were 鈥渨hat time do you call this?鈥 There were about 12 of us girls out, so we all stuck together. We walked home together, and even at 3 in the morning there were a lot of people about.
On VJ day I helped with the street party in Queens Park. Mother and I baked cakes and cut sandwiches, mother used to bake her own bread. I visited all the neighbours to gather ingredient to make them, but everyone helped one another.
I remember going to the butchers to queue up for a vegetable roll to help eek the rations out. I remember sometimes queuing for up to an hour.
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