大象传媒

I was about fourteen and lived in Oldham when World War 2 started. I was evacuated. I had a private evacuation, to relatives for a short time. This meant that I wasn鈥檛 with my school, as most people were. My school was not evacuated.

The war didn鈥檛 really affect me until 2-3 years after hostilities. Everything pretty much went on as normal. School was the same as did things like food and entertainment. Most people were more scared before the war started. Many people were imagining the worst.

We did have rations, but they were quite flexible. We had fish and chicken most of the time. We knew the people who owned the local shop well. We could also swap rations with neighbours. We grew our own vegetables in little allotments.

I was lucky in that none of my friends or family died during the war. However, I had an American pen friend who went off to war, I never heard from him again, so I can only assume that he died.

Planes returning from bombing Liverpool would often just drop their remaining bombs, some of which fell near my home and demolished houses.

Overall, I don鈥檛 think that the war was so terrible for people of my age. Life went on as normal. We still had school as normal, we had enough food, and I was lucky in that I was with my family most of the time.

Written by Anna Glaze-Krayer and Nick Baxter

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