大象传媒

When I saw the air-raid shelter in the 大象传媒's war garden at Hampton Court, I remembered we had one in the garden and it looked exactly like that, but I don't know what sort of door it had. I can remember going down into it and having sleeping-bags. And another thing I remember is that it got full of water once.

My father wasn't there then as he was away in the war. I lived in Plymouth - Crown Hill. I think we were sort of evacuated to there from Plymouth town but now Crown Hill is part of the conurbation that is now the town. Then it seemed quite rural and I remember learning to ride a bicycle there after the war. I was born in 1936 so after the war I was 11.

Another thing I distinctly remember was hearing a terrible noise and my mother being very frightened. She thought that it was a German plane that had landed, but it was a barrage balloon that had broken loose, and the ropes and things were dragging along the roofs (we were living in a bungalow). The noise was scary. I also remember the noise of the sirens going off, but I don't think I was really frightened during the war. I had a sister three and a half years younger that I was, and it was a bit like an exciting game.

There were a lot of American GIs who were billeted near us. We used to have them home to tea and the church was involved with them too. I had forgotten about them until I started to do this story. I remember odd things like a mouse dying and a butterfly laying eggs in the corner of the garden and then the caterpillars. I'm not sure of the timing - those memories are muddled together, but are definitely war memories.

Being so near Plymouth, we would hve heard all the raids and I suppose it must have been terrible for my mother with my father away. He was in the Navy - that's why we were living in Plymouth. I think, though, that the real horrors of the war must have been kept from us as it is the good times I remember -apart from the noise!

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