大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Maggie Smith from CSV Action Desk on behalf of Kathy Page and Colleen Carr and has been added to the site with their permission. Kathy Page and Colleen Carr fully understand the sites terms and conditions.

The three of us huggled up close to each other, my mother, sister and myself. It was so cold, we had a tiny heater to keep the whole flat warm as the electricity was cut off due to the bombing. We each grabbed a bucket and struggled down to the river Cole to obtain as much water from the mucky stream as we could. We could boil it on top of the heater and at least have a hot drink, the remainder was used to wash and bathe.

We both ended up with nits and so did all our friends, mum was so tired and dad was in the army so she found it difficult to cope with all the stress of bringing up two little girls alone.

Almost every night the raids were on and we were dragged to a neighbours shelter. my sister became ill, her chest had become infected by the damp in the shelter. We spent hours in Selly Oak hospital praying that she would recover. At the same time we also heard that our dad was declared missing. Mom decided we would be safer away from the bombings and we were sent to Pipewood Boarding School.

Although we were away from home the Staff at Pipewood gave us a sense of security. We were put in different dormitories as they had very strict rules. However, we saw each other every day and made friends which gave us both independance to a certain extent.

We would attend classes in the morning and were free to wonder in the Braken Woods in the afternoon. We enjoyed those sunny times and felt they worked perfectly. There was no drugs, no bullying, we were kept occupied. We were never allowed to say the word bored and we never needed too, we would make our own entertainment.

On the weekends we would go to the tuck shop to obtain our weekly ration of sweets, mom would also send us cakes and we never had more friends then on those days!

We would write letters every week and later found out that our dad was confirmed killed in Dunkirk. Mom had a very hard life but survived the war and lived to 90 years old.
She was dedicated to bringing us up with no support and with very little money. In a funny kind of way we were often happy in our misery.

We were content with life, we had a loving family, dedicated staff and friends. All of which are the greatest blessing we could have asked for. Thats all any child really needs and is entitled to, the right to be loved and we were.

Thanks to a loyal and loving mother, teachers and friends, we have so much to be thankful for. Thank God for all his blessings and for seeing us through that dreadful time.

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