大象传媒

This story was submitted to the the People's War site by Stoke-on-Trent Libraries on behalf of Derryk Vaughan and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was about 12 when the war started. We went to be fitted for our gas masks in a local chapel. The horrible smell of rubber made me feel sick. The gas mask came in a cardboard box but posh folk had their box specially made of leather or some other material.

We had to see to the windows. We put brown paper on each piece of glass to stop it shattering and then made blinds to black out the window.

Those who had a big enough garden were supplied with Anderson shelters - but they had to fit them themselves. We didn't have one so we used the cellar or went into a neighbour's shelter. The sirens always seemed to go off at night. It was terrible.

We lived in Windmill Street on the corner of Old Hall Terrace (it's Huntbach Street Medical Centre now). We had loads of incendiary bombs in Hanley and our windows and doors would get blown out every time.

At 14 I started work in the building trade. I worked on bombed out properties. Lots of Hanley was bombed but we weren't as bad as other towns and cities.

I will say that the community spirit and camaraderie will stay with me forever. From the age of 11 to 14 I did a paper round in the centre of Hanley. I lost count of the number of times I had to dive in a shelter with my papers! We made light of it, but it was serious stuff.

The big problem with shelters was flooding. You really had to go with your wellies on - and plenty of blankets to wrap around you.

From the beginning of the war mother had two evacuees, a three year old girl and an eight year old boy from Enfield in Middlesex. There were already four children in the house, but we coped. Their mother had been killed when their house was bombed. The boy, Stanley, got knocked down by a bus and was very badly injured whilst he was staying with us. We felt awful telling their dad but he was very grateful to us for everything we did. At the end of the war, mother wanted to adopt the little girl, Sylvia, but her father said no. Mother was really upset when she left.

How mother coped with rationing I don't know. We had lots of dripping. We bought ours from a little shop in Huntbach Street. The greengrocer would sell 3d stew packs called 'Pot Herb' to make lobby.

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