大象传媒

Life in a Pub During the war

I was 8-9yrs old and lived with my parents and grandparents at the Miners Arms at Mithian.
Obviously life was changed by the war, Perranporth Aerodrome was nearby and
Many different nationalities were stationed there 鈥� Polish, Czech, Free French, etc
And soldiers at Cameron estate on St.Agnes Headland.
Beer was in short supply (but there was always some for the locals!!!) I would
Occasionally swap a bottle of beer for some souvenirs (unbeknown to my parents!!)
Before the war women didn鈥檛 frequent the bar and my grandparents especially granny
Found this hard to accept- despite the fact she was there herself!!
Eventually the Americans arrived and we were very generous to the children. They were under canvas by St.Agnes Railway station (the African Americans were segregated there and the white ones at Cameron estate!) one African American in particular- 鈥淐hester鈥� was quite intriguing to my friend Frank Benny and me, he came on a bike and told us all about his life in New York. There was rationing, but fresh vegetables eggs etc were readily available. At one point my grandparents had obtained a leg of pork from a local source- but a day after a delivery of beer from the brewery- it went missing! Nothing could be said because of the source- but some weeks later the drayman didn鈥檛 come because he was ill. When he came again my grandmother was heard to say that perhaps he had eaten too much pork! The age I was, meant, I was unaware of the seriousness of war- and it was all seemed very exciting.
We used to go over to RAF Perranporth, where we used to watch the Spitfires.
The first plane to try to land was a Manchester bomber, which tried to land before the airfield was finished, it broke in half.
A USAF lightning crashed near station and the signalman went over and rescued the pilot, he had broken leg.
There were dances at the Masonic hall. One night it was the African Americans and the next night, whites. It was just dancing no drinking.
Tim Martin was the landlord of the Miners Arms they left in the early 1950鈥檚. Behind the cinema there was a canteen where the troops could get beans on toast. Opposite the post office there was a space for everybody to throw their empty tins which were collected.
We didn鈥檛 go down to the beach at Trevaunance Cove, as it was too noisy with the Americans firing machine guns at Borden Rock, a small island off St.Agnes.
When the Americans arrived in St.Agnes they drove up British Road and at the corner at the top, the marks of the tank tracks are still on the pavement.
In a crash over at Trevellas a Spitfirelanded on Walker cottage on take off, which was near the end of the runway, Mrs Walker was in the cottage, she was trapped under the stove, and the young baby was killed.

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