大象传媒

Bill and I were married in August 1938. Eleven month later our first baby was born. Sadly she had Spina-bifida and lived only eight days. That was June 1939. In September war started. Bill was called up for the Fire Service as he had enrolled the year before. I stayed in our flat until some of the staff at my old job had been called up then I was asked if I'd come and help out. Mrs. Dixon had an important job in the army offered to her and unless she had someone to run the house she couldn't take it. Her oldest daughter was also in the army until she married Lena Daves' son Tony Brett and had a lovely son. She lived at the Pump Room, Winkfield. By 1942, after being evacuated to Sharelelose, Amersham, I gave birth to a daughter. When I went back to work we had all kinds of military people to put up at the house, so felt that we were doing out bit. I'd spend ages queuing at Harrods Food Hall for our meat rations; the rest of the food could be ordered over the phone.
We had a dear old lady called Miss Orr and she could never be persuaded to go to the shelter during air raids. One night a bomb dropped behind our house and a kerb stone was flung right up through the roof into the bathroom breaking a pipe. So as well as the dust and rubble we had the water streaming down to flood us. We got it all moped up but in the morning we couldn't use the gas, so my mother (elen Ovenden) was cooking breakfast out in the garden. We got bricks and built fires so everyone was able to get to work with a hot meal and tea inside them.
Our old flat had been blasted so we had to get another. We would spend our off time there and thought that at least we would have a place for after the war.

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