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I'm a pupil from Heaton Manor Comprehensive School, Newcastle Upon Tyne, entering Robert Kennedy's story onto the website, and they full understand the website terms and conditons of use.
When the war began I was only six years old. During the war I remember eating mince and potatoes for dinner which, at the time was my favourite and I remember playing games with my other brothers and sisters such as ‘I spy with my little eye’ and a game we called ‘hide the thimble’. We also used to play card games like ‘snap’ and ‘domino whist’ to pass the time. It used to be really hard to take your mind of the war as there were too many things that you would see everyday which reminded you of it.
During the war seasons were very dark and gloomy because all doors and windows were either bricked up or very heavily curtained to make sure no light could give away the position to enemy aircrafts whilst an air raid was happening. I also remember as a young boy having to carry a gas mask wherever I went. My youngest sister was so small she had a gas mask that was a suit and made her look like Mickey Mouse.
Because the nearest air raid shelter was too far to travel to when the sirens went off, for protection my whole family would stay under the stairs of my grandmother’s house in which we were all living.
My main memory of the war was the night that Shieldfield was heavily bombed. Everyone in my family had to spend all night under the stairs in cramped conditions; when the siren finally sounded the all clear we all went outside of the house. All we could see was devastation everywhere and we realised that we were lucky to be alive. The goods station was completely bombed and all the streets we lived around such as Northumberland Road, Camden Street, and Yorkshire street were also bombed. Only twenty yards from our house another bomb had landed but fortunately did not explode.
My father had to join the army and had to leave our family. My mother had to look after six children and also had to help my grandmother to run a small central dealers shop. All my brother and sisters including me were evacuated to Windermere. Most of my siblings did not like being evacuated but personally I had a good time. I was evacuated for only two or three months and had a super time. My brother Tom and three of my sisters were evacuated to an old ladies house that had a servant. My brother and sisters did not get on very well with the old lady and complained to my mother who brought them back home. The old lady let my brothers and sister go home but pleaded for me to stay as she had a soft touch for me and I was the apple of her eye. I got to stay for a little bit longer and used to go for rides with the lady in her car. Whilst at Windermere I was treated like a king and really enjoyed myself.
My father left our family to go and fight for his country. My worst fear was not having him with the family and knowing that there was a chance we may never see him again.
Unfortunately we never did as he was killed on the ‘Lancastria’. This was a troopship that was evacuating troops from St. Nazaire in Southern France. My father is buried in France not far from where the ship sank and I have been to visit his grave there.
When the war ended I was twelve years of age. Most of my childhood was during the war and I have many memories from the devastating time that changed everyone’s life.

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