大象传媒

WARTIME

MEMORIES

1940 - 1946
Dedication

I dedicate these Memoirs to
the memory of all my Shipmates
who did not make 鈥淧ort鈥�

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鈥淭hey shall grow not old
as we that are left grow old,
age shall not weary them
nor the years condemn,
at the going down of the sun
and in the morning,
we will remember them!鈥�

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Acknowledgements

I give my sincere thanks to my Daughters, who have
encouraged me to record my Wartime memories.
Throughout my efforts, with great patience, they
have given me support and guidance in
all aspects of this presentation.

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Also to The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London.

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Prologue

Pre-School Days

I was born on the 28th June 1921, in the Abbeydale area of the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and was christened Raymond Herbert Ball. I have never liked that middle Christian name, part of the reason for this may be due to a music hall comedian, called Sandy Powell, who had a regular Radio programme. His opening patter, in a broad northern accent, started with, 鈥淐an you hear me Mother?鈥� Then as part of his act, he created an imaginary character called Herbert, making comments, humorous to the general public, but not funny to a boy of my age, e.g. 鈥淥ur Herbert鈥檚 fallen in the river!鈥� followed by, 鈥淥ur Herbert鈥檚 house is on fire, still never mind, the fire will dry his clothes now.鈥� I admit they seem innocuous now, but to a young child they were embarrassing and hurtful, and I made sure that this middle name of mine was kept as secret as possible. Although it didn鈥檛 help my problem, I am pleased to say that Sandy Powell progressed into T.V. and continued to perform well into the 1980鈥檚.

We lived in a rented bay-windowed terraced house, there being four houses to each yard, which were accessed by a central passage. We were the fifth house up from St Peters Church, which was bounded on three sides by Woodstock Road, Empire Road and Machon Bank. Our road was called Woodstock and it was on a slight hill which led off Empire Road. On Empire Road there was a small parade of shops. These were a Newsagent鈥檚, a Green Grocer鈥檚, a Butcher鈥檚, a Cobbler鈥檚 Shop and I believe there was a Ladies Hairdressers. Until the age of five, I was allowed to wander in the general vicinity of our house, provided the family dog, a black and white smooth haired terrier called Peggy, was with me. Apparently if I was missing, they simply looked for the dog and I would not be far away.

Looking back to my childhood, I think my middle name must have been 鈥榯rouble鈥�. The memories return of so many incidents of mischievous behaviour that, when I was older, I am not surprised that my Father threatened, on more than one occasion, to send me off to sea on a Training Ship, as punishment. Typical examples of my misbehaviour are:- eating the fruit from the travelling Green Grocers display basket, which he left at the bottom of the passage; opening the taps on the Milkman's Churns, which were at the back of his horse drawn 鈥榝loat鈥�, and then watching the milk run down the road; sitting with my dog, under the Green Grocers pavement trestle mounted display tables and reaching up to eat his peas and fruit; being warned at my Uncle's Farm in Butterwick, Lincolnshire, not to pick the apples from the trees and eat them. Only for my Uncle to find apples still on the trees with large bites taken out of them; another warning for me from my Uncle was to not go near his large fierce dog, which was chained to its kennel, but when I was missed, they found me in the kennel with the dog! Another example, when I was about 4 / 5 years old, was leaving the Sunday School annual sports field and walking alone, some 4 miles, to be first in the queue for the 鈥榖un fight鈥� (free Sunday School tea). I am sure there are many more incidents but it is like researching one鈥檚 ancestors some things are better left in the past.

School Days

In September 1926 I entered the Infant鈥檚 Department of Abbeydale Council School and without achieving any academic distinction, I passed through the Junior鈥檚 into the Senior鈥檚 Department. It was in that part of the school that I was taught by a Mr Brewster who years previously had taught my Father and my Wife's Father, at Sharrow Lane School. One day he gathered together a few boys, all of whom had failed their 11 plus Secondary School entrance examination and he told us of a new Junior Technical School which had only been opened the previous year. To those who showed interest, he would give special tutoring, and as a result of his efforts I passed the entrance examination to that new school and joined the school in September 1934.

At that time my academic studies had been, and still were being neglected because of my ballroom dancing activities. Although, at the first Dancing School I was sent to, run by a Mrs Wright, my parents were asked to take me away. One of the reasons was that I was distracting the other pupils, who were mainly girls. The thought was also expressed, to my Mother and Father, that they were wasting their money because I would never be able to dance, having as the teacher said, two left feet. My later success in this field proved that comment to be very wrong.

The dancing competitions, examinations in London and giving demonstrations mainly for charities, with my partner Joan Potts, took several nights a week. All I can say is that my achievements in dancing were more successful than those in my schooling. My partner and I became National Junior Amateur Champions in 1933, at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, and British Junior Professional Champions in 1936 at the Hammersmith Palais Ballroom in London. I recall that at the 鈥楶alais鈥� there were two bands playing, one was Oscar Rabin and his Latin American Band, but I cannot positively remember the name of the second band, but I believe it was Harry Roy.

The following year, July 1937, I finished school with an Engineering Diploma. The results of three distinctions, seven credits and one pass, clearly indicated, by the subjects in which I gained distinctions, that 1), I was destined to be an engineer and 2), that I had to do some catching up with my academic studies by attending night school. In consequence, the following year, I started going four nights per week to evening classes. In the early part of 1941, I started a six year break for my war years and on my return to 鈥楥ivvy Street鈥� in 1946, I continued with my studies into the early 1950鈥檚, when I took my 鈥榝inals鈥� for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to become a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and Chartered Automobile Engineer.

Just a footnote, in September 1997 I enrolled for the General Certificate of School Education in Mathematics in order to refresh my learning in 1948/9. When the course is completed I hope to be able to make an 鈥榰p dated鈥� contribution when assisting my grandsons with there homework. At 76 陆 I am the oldest student in the class (maybe in the whole school) and in fact sit next to the youngest, a boy, who is a 16 year old.

Apprenticeship

On leaving school, I was faced with the prospect of choosing a particular 鈥榣ine鈥� of employment for myself. An earlier conversation with my Father had ruled out my working for him in his firm, Dawes and Ball, a type of business, which in Sheffield was known as a 鈥楲ittle Masters鈥� (Sheffield abounded in these small, almost 鈥榦ne man鈥� cutlery businesses, each a specialist in their own right, this name of 鈥楲ittle Masters鈥� was possibly derived from the fact that Sheffield has a 鈥楳aster Cutler鈥�). The firm, Dawes and Ball, manufactured spring knife cutlery, generally known as 鈥榩ocket鈥� or 鈥榩en鈥� knives. My Father said that he had arranged with an old school friend for me to become 鈥榓rticled鈥� in his business to become a Chartered Accountant. I replied that I could not see myself pushing a pen all my life, to which my Father said, 鈥淚f that is the case, then you had better go out and find your own job!鈥�

Really it was all my Father's fault, because he had introduced me at an early age to D.I.Y. This covered anything from wiring our house for electricity, so we could change over from gas, building a five valve 鈥榮uperhet鈥� (superheterodyne) radio and later car maintenance. I really had been given little choice, I had been brought up to do creative things with my hands, a skill and logical thought process which has proved of great value through out my life.

Because of my Father's views, I wrote making application to the Sheffield Corporation Transport Department for employment as an Apprentice Fitter In due course, after a satisfactory interview, I was accepted and started work, as an Apprentice Fitter, at the Bramall Lane Garage in September 1937. After a few months I was moved from this Operating Depot to the Main Works, where the complete overhaul of vehicles took place. This was on Queens Road and I remained there until I joined the Forces over three years later.

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