大象传媒

3rd September, 1939. England and Germany were at war. Paris surrendered to the Germans on 14th June, 1940. In Jersey arrangements were made for a voluntary evacuation. The British Government sent ships to all islands for people who wanted to leave. It was rumoured that only women and children would be allowed to go. My parents decided to go only if my father could go to. We were only allowed one suitcase each.
There were six of us, Mum, Dad, Ken, John, Betty and myself. Ken was about 17 years old, I was 12, John 9 and Betty six years old. Mum packed what was necessary, Betty's teddy bear and doll were left on the stairs as she couldn't carry them, locked the door and off we went walking to the harbour, which was packed with people waiting to board. Mum pushed Dad on first, if he didn't get on, we wouldn't either.
Eventually we got on board this filthy ship, which was used to carry coal. We found a place to sit on deck [no cabins on this boat]. After a long wait we set off, no idea where we were going, it was jolly cold I remember, we had no food or water. One of the sailors brought us blankets and cups of tea.
Ken went of to have a look around, found a mate of his and spent the journey in a lifeboat, he was filthy with coal dust when he came back to us.
I can't remember how long it took, but we eventually arrived in Weymouth and were taken to a large building where we were fed and watered. I don't know how long we were there before we were put on a train for goodness knows where! What a horrible journey!
We travelled on, hungry and thirsty. The train stopped for a while at Bristol station, there people on the platform handed us sandwiches, cups of tea and bottles of water, which we very glad of. Some hours later we arrived in Bolton and were taken to a school - Gaskell Street. In the classrooms were rows of camp beds for us, and hot food. We were to spend about a week there, while waiting for accommodation. We went to the Public Baths for a much needed bath.
People from Bolton came along to the school to see if they could take anyone to live with them, one couple wanted to adopt Betty, but Mum and Dad said no way, we all had to stay together.
Later, Mum and Dad were asked if they would like a house on a new estate in Bury. They jumped at the chance. That's how we ended up at 90, Goldfinch Drive. When we arrived and found it was a lovely house with a large back garden, two ladies were waiting, the fire was lit and the kettle boiling. I remember Mum and Dad crying, we were all very grateful, everthing we needed was in that house, including a very large coachbuilt pram which we didn't need!
The next thing was Dad had to find a job, and we had to go to school except for Ken, he found a job as a projectionist in a cinema in town - he later joined the R.A.F. Dad found a job as a carpenter [his trade] and stayed with that firm until we came back, at last there was some money coming in.
Betty and John went to St. Pauls [Huntley] not very far from our house, and I went to St. Pauls [Bell] the senior school. John later went to Bury Technical College. We didn't like school at all, Betty played truant once and went to some friends down the road.
The sirens went quite a lot, at night mostly, the planes were going to bomb Manchester and Liverpool, it was scary. When it was bad we had to get up and go downstairs ans stay under the table until the all clear. There was a lady and her son who lived next door, she was very frightened. She used to come in with us every night and, as she was a large lady, once she got under the table there was no room for us, sometimes I went back to bed. Quite a few bombs were dropped on Bury. Dad was in the home guard and went on manoeuvres every now and then. There was a bucket of sand and one of water and a stirrup pump to hand in most public buildings, in case of incendiary bombs- a lot of homes had them too, ours was just outside the back door.
I left school at 14 and went to work in a shoe shop in town for 10/- a week. I soon got fed up with that. I met up with some girls from school who worked in a hat and cap factory, so I went there. The quicker you worked the more money you made, so that suited me better. That's where I met Edith, we used to go out together with several girls and boys dancing at the Palais every weekend. Edith used to come home with me after our Saturday night out and stay the weekend, now and then we'd have a boyfriend to walk us back, it was quite a walk!
There was a little dress shop on Bell Lane on the outskirts of town, you could buy dresses and coats at a few shillings a week, if you were lucky you got a pair of silk stockings when they had them in. Many's the time we've gone dancing and some of the girls from our way had the same dress on Nobody bothered in those days, there wasn't a lot of choice.
Most food was rationed, only a few ounces a week of butter, sugar, tea, cheese, bacon, meat etc. If we were in town and saw a queue outside a shop, we'd find out what they had and join the queue, only to find they had sold out before we reached the front. Food was in short supply but we never went hungry.
Edith and I each bought a bicycle at 10/- a week. We had a great time at weekends and holidays, exploring the countryside. Most of the roads were cobbled so it wasn't very comfortable, but we soon got used to the bumps. I brought that bike back to Jersey with me.
There was an army camp just outside Bury, my Aunty Clarice was in the NAFFI there [ my Dad's sister]. One night Henry Hall and his orchestra was playing there with Betty Driver singing, [Betty from Rovers Return, Coronation Street]. I remember Dad taking me!
Mum and Dad thought we'd have a day out in Blackpool, Ken was stationed there and we wanted to see the sea. We met up with Ken and he showed us the sights, but the sea was horribly dirty looking, not like Jersey at all, but we had a good day out.
Then in May, 1945, the war was over, the islands were liberated, great rejoicing, parties in the street, all sorts of things going on. We got letters from Auntie Hilda and Grandma Skelly, in Jersey, saying our house was O.K. We started packing our things. We were sending parcels of our belongings over to Auntie Hilda and she was taking them to the house.
One morning we set off on the train to London, spent a few hours seeing the sights and then got the boat train to Weymouth, for the night boat to Jersey. I don't remember much of the journey, we must have slept - we had a cabin. In the morning the sun was shining, it was a lovely day. We watched the coastline appearing, a lovely sight! When we landed I think I remeber Auntie Hilda being there to meet us. It was really nice to be back but everthing seemed so small. We got to the house we had left 5 years before, it looked just the same, Grandma Skelly was waiting in the kitchen, what a happy reunion it was!
Mum, Betty and I had 5 years of dust to clean and Dad and John, an overgrown garden! Auntie Hilda had taken all our clothes and toys for children who didn't have any, and Mum's best china and silver they took to their house for safe keeping. We had all those parcels to unpack and a lot of sorting out to do. It was good to be home again.

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