大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site on behalf of Beryl Hall with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was about 7 and a half when the war started. I was living in Islington, London. My father worked for a transport company 'Keetches' Haulage. We came to live in Radford, with my Grandparents. My mum and dad returned to live in London, my dad managed a depot.

In late 1941 my mum and dad came to live in Nottingham as they closed the depot down. We went to live in Mapperly, Valley Road (now Hallam Road).

May 1942, the bombs were dropping, you could hear them whistling down. One fell next door and demolished the bungalow. We were under the stairs. Our house was damaged. A coping stone fell on my mum and dad's bed.

My dad was now a long distance lorry driver, one time we delivered two guns to an army barracks in Colchester.

We were bombed out of our house. We went to stay with some neighbours down the road. We stayed for about 4 months. He was an ARP warden. My dad did join the Home Guard although he worked long hours lorry driving.

We said the only good thing Hitler did was to get our home repaired and put a decent fire in the house and a bathroom in the Box room upstairs and indoors.

No-one was hurt, but we had our house looted while we were out-they took sentimental things.

They built a brick shelter at the end of the road. It made me very nervous of loud noises - I never stayed in the house when there was a raid, I went to the shelter.

When I was 9, on 9the January, we went to see Aladdin at the Theatre Royal - Patricia Kirkwood played the principle boy - when we got home there was a raid!

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