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This story was submitted to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War site by Wymondham Learning Centre on behalf of the author who fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

I was five when World War Two was declared and remember many things from my childhood, such as collecting berries for making healthy drinks and fruit for jam making. Children were allowed time off from school to help with the potato harvest and pay was five shillings per week.

We went to church twice on Sundays and I remember how dark it was without the gas streetlamps. Buses were allowed a very small masked light. One of my nightly jobs was to fetch Gran’s beer from the back door of the pub.

I went to the village school with my sister Jean and remember the gas mask drill and going into shelters, although only two bombs were dropped on Northampton. I used to go collecting shrapnel with other lads and saw a Messerschmitt flying so low, the pilot waved to us. Our village had several shops and I would fetch the shopping while our mum cooked lovely dinners, many days it was rabbit.

My dad kept chickens and had some prize Rhode Island Reds. We boys would also ask the Americans ‘Got any gum chum?’
I can recall troops being assembled for D-day and seeing planes on long trailers brought through the village to be mended, especially Wellington bombers. Being only forty miles away, I remember vividly the one-thousand-bomber raid on Coventry, which went on for a very long time with a strong glow in the dark.

I also remember going to the VE party in the village and moving to Northampton Grammar School at eleven. Later I served three years in the Army — a three-year wonder — entitling me to more money than the normal two-year National Serviceman. I was in the REME and served in Kenya. Later I worked in the office of a company of earthmovers involved in the construction of the M1 Motorway. Later still I took a new job in Taverham, Norwich, as a buyer of plastic containers for Avon, the cosmetic firm, for ten years. Then I moved to Wymondham about 1985, since when I have had various health problems.

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