大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Melanie Bird a volunteer story gatherer at the Living Museum on behalf of Diana Bolton and has been added to the site with her permission. Diana Bolton fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I (Diana Bolton nee Tremain) was 3 when the war started. I lived in Poplar with my family, my father became a fireman in the docks at Orchard Place. We lived very near to the East India Docks and there were frequent air raids. During one of these a bomb fell at the bottom of our street. We were still in the house at the time on our way to our brick built street shelter. The only damage to our house were broken windows and a fallen ceiling.

For most of the war I was in London attending Primary School but when the Doodle Bugs started my father who saw the first one fall on the Emu Wine Company insisted we went away. I was seven. My sister, Betty Tremain (11 years old) and I went to a village in Norfolk. We arrived at East Dereham railway station where we boarded buses to be taken to our destination. We arrived at Bawdeseell and were taken into the village hall. The children with their mothers soon found people to have them this left just two pairs of sisters. A lady came in and pointed at my sister and one of the other sisters and said 鈥淚鈥檒l take these.鈥� I felt very lonely but my sister soon sorted it out and we went with Mrs Fenn.

They had no children but made us very welcome. We soon got used to pumping the water and using a candle to go to bed. She cooked using a primus stove or an oven heated by a coal fire. In the evenings we read by the light of an oil lamp. We went to the village school where there were just three other children of my age. Things were very quiet compared to London but excitement one morning. A German plane had crashed on the village church during the night. We stayed just over a year until after VE Day returning to London in September in time for the celebration parties.

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