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It wasn’t all doom and gloom during my early teens in Birmingham during the war there were plenty of entertainments going on, the cinemas were still open and busy. I went to the cinema regularly. When the sirens went it was put on the screen that an air raid warning had sounded so that the audience could leave if they wanted to but the film would carry on. Not many left! I did on one occasion but normally I would also stay. If a raid had followed a siren I think I would’ve left. One cinema — The Carlton in Taunton Road, had particular poignant memories for me. A friend’s sister took his fiancé to see a film — he was in the RAF, the siren went off and they both managed to escape, but he volunteered to go back in and rescue those left inside — he was killed when the building collapsed and he was one of the few that didn’t survive.

There were other entertainments available, some of the swimming baths were boarded over and they held dances, there were Whist Drives and Beetle Drives which my sister loved.

A bomb fell beside the Imperial Theatre in Clifton Road where I lived, and I remember looking in the hole when they were diffusing it and being amazed at the size of it — it was at least 6 foot long! If it had gone off it would’ve blown half the road away. They used German POWs to dig out the bomb.

The houses in Balsall Health were villas, which fronted on to the pavement — they had cellar grates — which were used to drop the coal down. As these cellars were now being used as shelters the council put little concrete covers over the grates to enable the householders to get out quickly if the house was bombed. The only trouble was during the black out (and it really was black) you couldn’t see these concrete covers, even if you had a torch it had to be masked. I would imagine there were more casualties with people tripping over the covers, bumping into telegraph poles and lampposts than were injured during the bombing! You really took your life in your hands if you ventured out during the black out!

This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Diana Wilkinson of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester and has been added to the site with Mr Harry Devy’s permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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