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More towards the end of the war, 1943 or 1944, 1943 probably, there was this major hit-and-run air raid that came across from France. There were 15 or 25 aircraft. I was at Varndean and of course the school there overlooked the town, you were up and you could see right across the town. And they’d changed the system by then, instead of having sirens they had what they called bleeps. When the sirens went, the air-raid was over, so as soon as an aircraft came in sight they would put the bleeps on — bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep - and you’d dive under your desk. There wasn’t time to do anything else. Having dived under, and all these aeroplanes were flying all over the town, you could see them. And then when they had gone you could see all the smoke rising in the town from the various bombings and you’d try to work out where your house was in relation to the smoke to see if any bombs had fallen in your particular area and you won’t know until you get home whether your people had been bombed or not. I can remember that.

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