大象传媒

My first memory of the war war Daddy turning to Mummy who was reading the Daily Express headlines of 3rd September,1939 and said "This looks like it". I had just turned 4 in the August although I did not fully understand the seriousness of my father's words I still remember the look that passed between them.

From that moment on, for the next 5 years, life was to change for my sister and I.

Dad arranged for Mum to accompany us to a place of safety in the country because it was considered unsafe to remain at home due to our proximity to London.

I cannot remember much about our first evacuation except that it was a small village outside Colchester and I remember trotting down a country lane, tripping over and hurting my forehead and knee the scars of which I carry to this day. We were there for a matter of weeks then we returned home until early in 1940.

My sister and I were then evacuated to a farm in Little Horksley to stay with a Mr.& Mrs.Pearce, they were very kind and treated us like one of the family although we both missed Mummy and Daddy very much. I had not started school but my sister went to the local school. We were here for a matter of months and then came back only to find that we were to be evacuated with Mummy further out of harms way to Abergele in North Wales. This time we were sent to a family with other evacuees but this family were reluctant to take us all and the man of the house made life quite difficult for us always complaining and we had to be very quiet and not make too much noise.

It was here that I started school and one of the things I remember was having to learn Welsh although I cannot remember or speak a word of it now.

Another early memory was having a doll for my 5th birthday, this had a china head and "Made in Germany" stamped on the back of the neck. Mummy put Elastoplast over this because it wasn't considered patriotic to buy anything German. The doll didn't last long on it first outing in a toy pushchair I tripped over and the doll fell to the ground and was broken beyond repair -I was heartbroken.

Mum returned home and left us with another family in Wales but these people were even worse, they were very strict and I think they were only housing evacuees under protest. There were about four or five children including my sister and myself and if we didn't behave we had to sleep on a bunk bed in a cupboard under the stairs. I can remember the lady of the house making me sit at the breakfast table until I had eaten a slice of toast with marmalade on which I have never liked and will not touch to this day. My sister was getting very homesick and tried to bribe me with some of her toys to stay on there and let her go home with Mummy when she came to visit.

We were to stay in Wales until the worst of the "Blitz" as it was called was over, returning once again to try and pick up the threads and started at our local Chingford Infants and Junior School in Kings Road.

Whilst in the infants school I developed scarlet fever and was taken by ambulance to an isolation hospital, once again I was to be taken away from my Family this time for six weeks.

Waiting on my return home was a little white puppy with a brown head and long curly tail, she was a small mongrel which we called Trixie.

These were happy innocent days only interupted by air raids of which fortunately I was not fully aware of the consequences. After each raid on our way home from school we used to find pieces of shrapnel, these were parts of bombs and aeroplanes scattered all over the ground and we used to swop these at school like you would swop football cards. I built up quite a collection, to me it was just a game and I never realised the seriousness behind these pieces of metal, that men were killing and maiming each other with these bombs.

It never occurred to me at any time that we would lose the war, reports were always favourable as all news was monitored and to keep up morale bad reports were kept to a minimum and I just took it for granted that one day we would beat the Germans.

I shudder to think now what would have happened if the Germans had invaded and occupied Britain. I feel sure our family would have perished in a concentration camp although we were not aware that these existed at the time. I would not be writing this for any children or grandchildren. How lucky I am!

Being so young I wasn't aware of the seriousness of the war situation. Although I was taught that when the siren sounded with a broken wailing noise this was the signal to take cover in the air raid shelter and when there was a continual wailing noise coming from the siren, this was the all clear and we could leave the shelter.

We also had to carry torches with us because there was no street lighting as a "blackout" had been declared. Torches had a half shutter on them so the light always pointed to the ground. Not many people ventured out after dark unless it was necessary.

All windows had to have heavy black curtaining and no light must show during the hours of darkness otherwise this would give an indication as to where the German areoplanes could drop their bombs. The police and ARP (Air Raid Precaution) men used to parade the street and shouted "put that light out" if they saw any chink of light showing through the windows.

Signposts were taken down in case enemy parachutists landed. All available iron railings were taken down to help the war effort towards making guns and planes.

Everyone was issued with an identity card, I can still remember my number - DDNG/162/4.

We were also individually issued with gas masks in case of mustard gas attacks. We had to carry these wherever we went. Although we never had cause to use them we used to have air raid and gas mask drill at school and I can still recall the horrible rubbery smell of the mask when I put it on.

We were also issued with ration books as food like sugar, tea, butter,meat,eggs and bacon were rationed. This was due to the fact that the convoys of food ships from abroad were not getting through because German ships and submarines were blockading and sinking them. Gradually as the war continued food got scarcer and scarcer and people resorted to exchanging their coupons and even buying certain food items on the "black market". Mummy used to swop her bacon allowance for extra tea.

Worst of all sweets were put on ration,this is probably why my teeth have lasted so long. We used to cadge chocolate and chewing gum from the American soldiers stationed in this country and a favourite expression was to go up to an one and say "any gum chum".

We were issued with clothing coupons and had to save these up if we wanted to buy anything. We couldn't just go into a shop
and buy whatever we wanted unless we had enough coupons to cover the item. Obviously I got all my sister's hand-me-downs, which had been handed down from our cousins in Liverpool.

We hardly ever saw an orange or banana, occasionally word went round that the Fruit Shop had a supply of oranges and everyone would queue up for hours to get one or two oranges. I didn't see a banana until after the war when I was about 10, Mum had to show me how to peel it.

Everything but everything was in short supply as priority went into the war effort.

One group of people who became very important were the land girls who were sent to work on the farms to help improve the supply of food. All available land was turned over to growing vegetables and many people were given areas of land in parks and open spaces which became known as allotments and were encouraged to grow their own vegetables etc. "Dig for Victory" posters went up everywhere.

Our next-door neighbour kept chickens to provide her family with extra eggs. Mummy tried her hand at this but was not very successful. She wasn't keen on animals let alone birds she found the chickens too smelly and couldn't even pick them up. The chickens landed in the pot and that was the end of Mummy's effort at trying to keep chickens.

The garden was turned over to growing vegetables like runner beans, potatoes, tomatoes and brussel sprouts. Anything that gave us extra food. It was up to the housewife to make food go a long way, corned beef and spam fritters together with reconstituted dried egg were on many menus. Dried egg omlettes tasted revolting but we had to make the best of it.

Every household had either a Morrison or Anderson Shelter. The Morrison shelter was a large iron table that was erected indoors, when the siren sounded everyone took cover under the table, next door had one of these.

My Father decided to erect an Anderson Shelter and this was situated at the end of the garden. This consists of sheets of corrugated aluminium bolted together to form a hut big enough for 4 or 5 people to use. He dug a big hole and with help managed to bolt it together, not being the greatest of handymen the first time we used the shelter we found there was a great big pool of water about a foot deep in the bottom, he had forgotten to put a waterproof concrete base in. The only real use the shelter had was when Trixie had her litter of puppies in it.

My Grandpa always refused to go into the shelter and when the siren sounded would sit in the kitchen with a cup of tea whilst we all huddled in the shelter waiting for the "all clear". Now I am about his age I can understand how he felt and would probably do the same.

At the start of the war all young men were called up for active service Daddy being over the required age was like others required to do service in either the Fire Brigade, the Home Guard or the ARP.

He joined the ARP and was stationed in the Ridgeway next to the Town Hall and Fire Station.

1944/5 saw the start of the Doodle Bugs as they were called. Firstly there was the V1 an unmanned aeroplane packed with explosives, this made a droning sound as it came over almost like a giant bumblebee, then suddenly the engine would cut out, there would be a minute or so silence then a loud bang as the aeroplane exploded on impact. These caused a lot of damage to London and the suburbs but a least we had some warning that they were coming and there were attempts to shoot them down.

During one of our visits to see Daddy we were half way down Endlebury Road on our way home when the siren sounded and there was no shelter nearby in which to take cover. Although there was a Police post nearby, for security reasons the warden in charge would not let us take cover there and I can remember Mummy throwing both my sister and myself to the ground and laying on top of us as a V1 Bomb landed in Chingford Mount just a mile or so away. As we got up we saw a spiral of smoke rising into the sky.

But worse was to come - the V2 - this was rocket propelled and was launched from France and made no noise whatsoever. This just exploded on impact without any warning and caused even more damage than the V1.

One day as Daddy and I were sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast there was a loud bang. The back and front doors blew open and the front windows that had leaded light panels of glass bowed outwards. A V2 rocket had landed half a mile away in Endlebury Road demolishing four or five houses.

We were so terrified of the "Doodle Bugs" our parents decided it was unsafe for us to stay in London and we were sent to Liverpool to stay with my Aunt, Uncle and 2 cousins.

We were to stay here until it was considered safe to return home so we enrolled in the local school once again my schooling had been interupted.

We stayed in Liverpool until the war was coming to an end and came home just before VE day (Victory in Europe) What excitement as the war was declared over. Everyone arranged street parties, my Dad and some neighbours organised one around the corner in Fairlight Close and all the local children were invited. It was so exciting I had ice cream for the first time (this was at the age of ten). There was a fancy dress competition. I went as a cleaning lady called Mrs.Mopp from the radio programme ITMA. I won a prize I can't remember what it was but I suppose it helped having Daddy on the committee.

Grandpa took us up to East End of London to see the King and Queen driving through the streets in an open Landau. My sister and I stood on the pavement furiously waving Union Jack flags, the celebration went on for weeks.

It was to take years before the war was to recede in my memory though never to be forgotten.

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