大象传媒

My father was born on 27th August 1940 and these are his earliest memories of how the war affected him. He lived on Woolley Bridge road in Hadfield, Derbyshire and his father was in the Home Guard.

"I must have been geting on for 3 before any faint memories begin to appear, so I cannot put any definite years/dates to any of the following.

In those days they used to come round collecting for money to buy a Spitfire and I remember seeing a Spitfire on Glossop Market Ground which helped to raise cash to build one. I cannot be definate about being allowed to get into the thing or not because I would be quite small then.

My Dad (James Rainford Nickson) was in the Home Guard (Notts and Derbys-Sherwood Forresters) and on one occasion a Bren Carrier (small tank like vehicle) was brought into Glossop Market. I don't know if it was the Army or the Home Guard who organised it but they gave us kids a ride in it around the market ground.

As the war went on, the Home Guard got better equipment. Eventually Jim was trusted with a Lewis Gun and one day, they must have been having a parade up Glossop or somewhere, and he brought this thing home. I can remember playing with this gun on the rug in front of the fire. It had a round Panier for the ammunition, empty, otherwise I might have demolished the house. I've always been able to recognise a Lewis Gun from that day to this.

Uncle Arthur was in the Artillary. He was at Church Stretton and Oswestry but he got a perforated eardrum so was invalided out. Dad said that if he had stayed in, he would have gone out with the 52nd Division to Singapore and "gone straight in the bag".

I can remember walking from Woolley Bridge towards Brookfield with my Aunty Mary, it must have been Christmas Eve 1944 and it was a nice day. Coming up behind Mottram Church, there was a lot of black smoke. This was the day when Foulkes' Farm was hit by a Doodlebug. Farmer Foulkes used to deliver milk to Aunty Mary's but didn't come that day. He used to come dressed in a Trilby hat and wearing a Khaki slop driving a small van. All the other farmers came with horse and cart, but he used his van as he had a long way to come.

We never saw a bomb droped in Hadfield, but they used to test the sirens once a month and they frightend me to death.

After the war was over, we had a Victory parade with all Union Flags hanging from bedroom windows. Each flag had little bags of sand stitched to each bottom corner to stop the flag blowing around when it was windy. All the kids got dressed up and I went as "Monty", but I did not win anything.

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