大象传媒

鈥淚 have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and consequently this country is at war with Germany.鈥�
Those words, broadcast by Neville Chamberlain, prime minister, all those years ago, and heard on an accumulator powered Marconi or it could have been an Echo wireless, as they were called in those days, are as clear in my memory as if I had heard them only last week. As an eight-year-old I was well impressed and asked dad many questions about what they meant. Not much seemed to happen at first, I still ran errands for mam, went to Wadsley Bridge Junior School on Halifax Road as I always did, played with all my pals on the old allotments. But gradually things started to change.
House windows were blacked out and if any light, no matter how small, could be seen from outside the local bobby was soon knocking at the door. Doors that led outside had contacts on the top of them that switched the light off when the door was opened. These were usually fitted by some handyman. It is a wonder that there were no mass electrocutions; think what would be said if that happened these days. Ration books, identity cards, gas masks etc., were issued. I had to move to Parson Cross C of E School as the powers that be, I think it was the War Ministry or MOD, took over Wadsley Bridge School. The few cars that were on the roads had masks that only had three small slots in them, fitted on their headlamps. These reduced and directed the light downwards. We had a small lapel buttons that were luminous and glowed in the dark; house numbers were painted with luminous paint. House windows had crisscross patterns of brown tape stuck on them to reduce any flying glass caused by exploding bombs, tram cars had net stuck on their windows for the same reason. The interior lighting of trams was by very dim blue lights and it was so difficult to see just where you were. I remember the conductor used to shout out the name of the tram stop; we also got into the habit of counting the stops but many a time you got off either too soon or after the stop you wanted.
Air raid shelters were issued to every household; there were two types, Anderson and Morrison. The Anderson shelter was made from corrugated sheets that were bolted together, partially buried and then covered with a thick layer of earth. They had bunks inside them and many people fitted them with chairs, cupboards, a small table and some even had a small tortoise stove. Many were very damp and boards were fitted to try to keep our feet dry. The Morrison shelter was a heavy metal table and people use to get underneath when bombs were dropping.
I remember vividly the first time the air raid sirens went. As we went up the garden to the air raid shelter I remember dad saying in a very grave voice, 鈥淲e are going to war鈥�. The 鈥渁ll clear鈥� went after about half an hour so it was a bit of an anti climax. That soon changed as the Luftwaffe started making regular bombing raids. Many a time we stood outside the air raid shelter and watched the glow on the horizon as cities like Manchester and Liverpool were the targets. Eventually it was Sheffield鈥檚 turn to be the target. It was Thursday, December 12th, a clear sky with a full moon and it was very frosty; it was almost as light as day. The sirens went about 7:00 pm and the first bombs fell some 10 minutes later. The raid lasted until the early hours of the morning, about 4:00 am I think it was. Jerry came back again on the following Sunday night but the raid did not last as long. I鈥檒l not go into these two nights, as there are many accounts of the Sheffield blitz elsewhere on this site. It wasn鈥榯 very long before Lord Haw Haw, William Joice an Englishman turned traitor, was on the wireless telling Sheffielders which shops etc., the Germans had successfully bombed. We lads at school had all kinds of theories how he knew these things.
During the early days of the war, the Gove,rnment decided to evacuate English children and my Mum and Dad decided to send me to Canada. They found a couple, George and Edie Malcolm were their names and they lived in Churchbridge, Saskatchewan. I found out their names only recently while I was sorting through some old letters of Mam and Dad after they had died. I have never heard from these obviously good people but I seem to recall that they had a son who would have been quite a bit younger than I was.
It would be nice if there were someone somewhere who knew them and I were contacted. It is a lot to ask though as all this was over 60 years ago.

I clearly remember standing in the school playground in very orderly groups with other children being evacuated. Lots of Mams and Dads were there; lots of tears were being shed and goodbyes were being said. Dad came over to me and took me out of the group and said, 鈥淵ou are not going, if we have to be killed in the bombing, we will all go together鈥�. This is one of those things that stick in the mind and it seems as though it was only yesterday when this happened but it was 1940. I should have joined the ss City of Benares in Liverpool;she sailed on September 13th but didn鈥檛 get very far. During the night of September 17th she was hit by torpedoes from the U47, one of the German U boats prowling the Atlantic looking for conveys from America, which were bringing supplies such as food, ammunition etc., all to help with the war we were fighting. As with the Sheffield blitz, there are lots of places on the Internet about the ss City of Benares for those who want more information. Only a few survived this sinking and I am not the only one who had a narrow escape but I have never had any contact with them. It would be nice if that ever happened. There is a lot of information about this tragedy on the Internet from where I got the following: -

鈥淭he City of Benares was a passenger ship, the largest of Ellerman's City built in 1936 for service between England and India. On Friday, September 13, 1940, she sailed from Liverpool in a convoy of nineteen ships bound for Canada. She carried 406 crew and passengers including 101 adults and 90 children being evacuated to Canada by the Children's Overseas Reception Board.
Four days, 600 miles out to sea, the destroyer HMS Winchelsea and two sloops, who had been escorting the convoy, departed to meet eastbound Convoy HX71. Despite a standing order to disperse the convoy and let all ships proceed on their own, Rear Admiral Mackinnon delayed the order. Shortly after 10pm the City of Benares was torpedoed by U-boat, U-48. The order to abandon City of Benares was given but due to rough conditions and Force 5 winds, lowering the boats was difficult and several capsized. Two hundred and forty five lives were lost either from drowning or exposure. Rescue did not arrive until 14:15 the following afternoon when HMS Hurricane arrived on the scene.
Only 13 of the children survived, 6 of whom spent seven days in a live boat before being rescued by HMS Anthony. The Evacuation Overseas scheme was eventually abandoned, one positive result of the tragedy was the decision to have all convoys accompanied by rescue escorts.鈥�

By this time I had passed the scholarship and had been accepted at Firth Park Grammar School. Here we practised going into the shelters where each year had their own place and lessons continued there. The ruling that all had to wear a school uniform was relaxed because of the rationing but we all had to have a school badge and a school cap. One summer we went 鈥減otato picking鈥� in Lincolnshire, this was all in aid of the 鈥淒ig for Victory鈥� campaign. I particularly remember seeing the sky filled with what seemed like 100s of gliders being towed. I assume this was the raid on Arnham. Most of us had a large map on our bedroom wall on which we plotted the movements of our troops such as the 鈥淒esert Rats鈥�.

Eventually VE Day came, I was in the Southampton area at the time on a bit of a holiday and remember all the Americans gave lots of parties. VJ Day followed and I met my wife, Margaret, the following Saturday. We started going out together the year after and have been together ever since, we were only separated when I did my National Service or one of us went into hospital. She died after a long illness a few months ago.

I think that is the end of my story and I hope someone, somewhere finds it interesting.

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