大象传媒

This story was submitted by Helen Hughes of the People's War team in Wales on behalf of Sheila Carter John and has been added to the site with her permission.

I remember vividly the air raid siren going off in the middle of class鈥ecause I only lived round the corner by St Saviour鈥檚 church I was able to run home鈥nd we never went back to school in the afternoon if it happened in the morning 鈥� we never went back in the afternoon. We鈥檇 take the day off! There was a big raid in Splott, and a lot of the houses went down. I remember getting out of the shelter one evening, one night, and houses in our street were on fire. And Moorlands Road School was bombed, so then we only went to school part time 鈥� they went in the mornings, we went in the afternoons, or they went in the afternoons and we went in the mornings. We thought it was great鈥� we thought it was terrific. Of course we didn鈥檛 have a lot of education really. We weren鈥檛 allowed to go far鈥ou played around your area with your friends. But we used to wander over to the park, which we weren鈥檛 supposed to. And Cardiff airport was at Tremorfa then so we did have a lot of bombs coming along. My father was one of the first to go off because he was in the TA. He came on leave before going over 鈥� he was one of the Desert Rats 鈥� and we were in the garden my little sister and I and of course we鈥檇 seen the bombs dropping over towards the airport, but we never bothered. My father panicked鈥hrew us in the shelter鈥e said 鈥淒addy what are you doing鈥� 鈥淭here鈥檚 bombs dropping, bombs dropping, keep down鈥濃�nd my sister was crying. And my mother came out and said 鈥淓dgar, what are you doing鈥� 鈥淭here鈥檚 bombs, get down!鈥� She said 鈥淣o, they were over there鈥�.鈥� You could judge and we got to know even as children what were our aeroplanes and what were theirs. My father said he couldn鈥檛 cope with it 鈥� he鈥檇 be glad to get back to the army, and then he didn鈥檛 come back again until after the war. He was one of the first in and one of the last out鈥�..My mother said 鈥淭rust him鈥�.
We used to go out in the streets in the day and pick up shrapnel 鈥� bits of crumpled metal鈥�.the boys used to think it was souvenirs. We girls weren鈥檛 that much interested but we used to collect it for the boys you know, every bit you had 鈥淵ou give me that and I鈥檒l give you a sweet鈥� you know鈥hat鈥檚 the kind of thing we used to do with shrapnel 鈥� you want it 鈥� you give us one of your sweets. But I think we were too young to be scared 鈥� I was four when it started 鈥� I think we were a bit na茂ve鈥t was part of our lives. Our air raid shelter wasn鈥檛 damp and horrible we had bunks and my mother had what we called siren suits made out of old dressing gowns with legs and a zip up the front, and we put them on when we went down the shelter and we had little lamps, little blue and green lamps that we鈥檇 put up in the shelter鈥nd we were quite cosy we just tucked down and went to sleep. And we had a potty there you鈥檇 take with you. And they knitted and read while we went to sleep. And people say they were hungry 鈥� we were never hungry. I think its because my mother and grandmother were good cooks I suppose. So I don鈥檛 remember ever being hungry like people say they were hungry and the only thing you missed was sweets. The only thing I remember was just after the war they鈥檇 say 鈥渢hey鈥檝e got oranges round at the co-op鈥� and you鈥檇 go and queue or 鈥渢hey鈥檝e got ice-cream鈥� in the other shop and you鈥檇 go and queue with your plate for ice-cream. Apart from that I don鈥檛 remember being hungry or cold or anything not like people say they were. Splott school鈥hey knocked it down now鈥oorland Road school is still there 鈥� they rebuilt part of it.

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