大象传媒

I was seven years old at the outbreak of war, it was my mother鈥檚 birthday, now whether Hitler was thinking of sending her a present I don鈥檛 know. But September the third was my mother鈥檚 birthday, so it鈥檚 a day we shall remember. I was playing in the garden, I was swinging round a pole when a young lady from the other side of the street came up and rushed past with the news that 鈥榳e are at war鈥�. I swung around the pole and the roof fell in on me. I shall remember September the third 1939.

I remember that if the air raid siren went off after midnight you were given an extra hour in bed, and we didn鈥檛 go to school until 10 o鈥檆lock. I attended school at All Saints in Castle Street 鈥� firstly at the Infants School, then later on at the Senior School.

Initially when they first started to bring in groups of evacuees from London to the town, we shared the school with one of the schools that came in. So we half a day and they went half a day, but eventually the evacuees were integrated into the community and therefore they did not need to have separate schooling. They were part and parcel of the community.

Air raid shelters were built. In the evenings the stock of bricks and mortar that were being used to build the shelters seemed to shrink, because local residents found them very handy for their back gardens and such like. So during the day the senior boys had to stand guard so that the bricks and mortar did not disappear and we could have our shelters built.

When we were not at school, we made our own entertainment in the 1930s and 40s we didn鈥檛 have TV, but we did have radio, but you weren鈥檛 allowed to listen because dad wanted to listen to find out what was going on. You went out and played in the streets, when I was brought up in the Duke Crescent area, which was a fairly new area of the town, but it back on to what is now the Croyland Park 鈥� they were fields then and it was farmed by Mr. Bull who loved the help of the children. So if you wanted to help you were there, particularly at harvest time. The children rounded up his cows, the careful ones of course, and took them down to the farm which was in Croyland Road 鈥� which is where Morrison Supermarket now stands. The Tithe barn, in the town centre, was the cowshed of Bull farm.

Being so young we didn鈥檛 realise that there was a war going on, and as regards rationing our parents had the problems rather than the children. I cannot ever remember being without food. Your parents sorted things out; there were things on the ration, and things off the ration. Once the Americans were here there was no problem with food, they had a wonderful feeling for children, and this was so for all of them. Children were never without chocolate. The Americans had never had cooked tomatoes; they knew it as a fruit. When they had fried tomatoes on a Sunday morning at my home I have seen as many as 16 American soldiers; they brought their frying pans, their eggs and Mum and my eldest sister would do nothing cook breakfasts, they loved their fried tomatoes.

The Americans knew how to look after their troops, it was said that for each ton of ammunition there were ten tons of the 鈥榥ecessities of life鈥�.

Lady Randle鈥檚 orchard on the outskirts of Wellingborough, near Wilby. This is now a housing estate just past the Duke of York, but half the orchard still exists. There was no-one there so this is where we did our scrumping, they did not approve 鈥� but needs must and eyes were turned! I can only remember one incident where Police made investigations, they did not go too deeply into it 鈥� they wouldn鈥檛 dare because I witnessed one Policeman receiving his sack of apples on one occasion when I was hiding in the bushes. Later in the war servicemen were stationed there, and eventually the Land Army took over.
It was amazing how many people kept hens, so you had got the eggs. It was OK until the time came to kill them, but if the rest of the people were anything like us nobody wanted to kill them.

My home in Jubilee Crescent was open house to anyone in uniform. I had six sisters and a brother. My father had served in the First World War and he understood just how good it was to be able to relax. Therefore whether he was British, French, Canadian or American the door was always open. We lost nothing from it, we had quite a house full 鈥� we never lost out on it. We met some wonderful people in the war and they were able to relax. When the Americans arrived there was friction in the town, but not in my home. They were treated equally and the ones that came to our house respected each other as they were expected to do.
Serrah, a Free French Pilot with only one leg spent lots of time in our house. He could hop up the stairs carrying his other leg, the strength he must have had in his body. What happened to him I do not know. The Free French were situated in the town and what is now the Railway Club was the French Officers quarters and Finedon Hall was the headquarters of Charles De Gaulle.
I can鈥檛 remember much about the Canadians but they were certainly here because one married my cousin.
The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry were here; my oldest sister married one in 1944. He was a Catholic, they had a catholic wedding and the dress appeared from somewhere.
As it happens all my sisters married either chaps who were either in the forces or ex army servicemen just after the war.
One of my brothers in law George Richardson was a Dunkirk veteran.

One American flying officer was shot down over France towards the end of the war (after D Day). He found his way to the nearest airfield and was brought back home; he didn鈥檛 report to his unit, he came home to see my father 鈥� that鈥檚 when the MPs came to pick him up. They were persuaded to leave him alone and he slept for two days, then we informed the authorities, and they came to collect him. So he was allowed time to recover. My father served in the First World War in France and the way he was treated there reflects on how he treated servicemen here.

I didn鈥檛 live with my family all the time; I was brought up as a Salvationist with a lady who was called Auntie Annie. As she was alone and she was a First World War widow my father thought it was right that she should have some company. I had been living with her on and off since 1934, but by 1939/40 I was living full time with her. There were only three rooms in her house, but the authorities in their infinite wisdom that she could take in an evacuee. We had two ladies, at different times, they were wonderful people and they stayed with us for a short time. They had to live on the third floor, all the water was carried up in buckets and yes, the other stuff was carried down.

I had to do the shopping; everyone was working all sorts of hours. My father worked on the railways and we never knew when my dad was coming home, he would go away on a Monday and we would see him for ten days. As I was living with my auntie I had to do the shopping because she worked on Saturday mornings. We had been queuing for half an hour outside Saxby鈥檚 in Cambridge Street for sausage and haslett that was not on the ration, then a message appeared in the window saying 鈥榥o sausage 鈥� registered customers only鈥� - moans and groans, most of the people went away, but one or two stayed 鈥� I stayed. I went in, the shopkeeper said 鈥淵es 鈥� and what do you want?鈥� 鈥� I said 鈥渋f these registered customers like sausages that taste like sausages, I鈥檒l have half a pound鈥�. Needless to say I got no sausages.

I was lucky; perhaps my angelic smile and my halo shining got me little things that other people could not get. At one of the little bakers I was told to turn up after 3 o鈥檆lock on a Saturday afternoon, whenever I turned up there was a bag with a few cakes and what have you and no thought of coupons.

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