大象传媒

As a little child, I attended the local Infant School. People sometimes think that the schools stopped during the War - they did not.

Unlike some children I was never evacuated, my two elder brothers were, but they were so unhappy that my mum decided that she would keep me with her.

I attended Whittington School, which is located on Highgate Hill. Although some of children were sent away - the teachers went with them - the class was always about 20 in size.

For a very short time, because some of the teachers had left, we only went to school for half a day. This was quite good because it meant we had almost a holiday, every day. A friend and I spent the time together playing in the streets. It seems strange now, when children are taken to school in cars, that we thoght nothing of being away from home, walking to school each day on our own, with our gas masks on our backs. If an Air Raid started while we were on the way, we went into an Air Raid shelter - they were in every street - and if we were near enough to the school, we just went to school.

If an Air Raid happened while we were at school, the classes stopped and we sent to the School shelter, when I was in the infants, we were told stories until the raid was over.

Later when the War ended, I remember having a conversation with my friends, that we would now have to sit through all the lessons with no chance of a break, we quite liked the breaks.

Later when I was at Junior School, even though there was War on we still had to take our exminations etc., although I never took the 11 plus during the war, others did and went to grammar schools, very like now.

While i was at the infant school, I remember that the school hall was used as a rest centre for the families that had been bombed out. On our way to the shelters, during a raid, we had to step over all their belongings and often people.

We also sometimes, had gas mask drills, we used to all join together in the hall and the Headmistress would time us on how quickly we could all put a masks on. This would have been very necessary, if the Germans had used gas in an attack. I was quite jealous of my sister who was born in 1941, that she had a Mickey Mouse one and I only had a black one.

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