大象传媒

We lived in Kennington in a flat above the CO-op.The local vicar at St.Marks was an uncle of Field Marshall Montgomery.My father was called up in 1940 and joined the Eighth Army.At every stop off point he sent postcards home,we still have all of them.He sailed via the Cape of Good hope to Egypt,and then fought in the Desert Campaign.Later he went on to fight throughout the Italian campaign.He was not demobbed until late in 1945.
I was five years old in 1942.I remember having my tonsils out in the Evelina Childrens Hospital (part of Guys),this involved being kept in isolation for 7 days.
Where we lived an incendiary bomb went through all the floors,the air raid shelter was beneath the house.In 1943 we moved to Bromley for 9 weeks,there was no school to go to and the house we stayed in was bombed flat.In 1944 mothers and small children were moved out of London.We went by train from Euston to Crewe and then by coach to a Welsh village.This was then called Newmarket,now it has a welsh name.In the village Welsh was spoken.We were billited with a miners family.The custom was not to use the font door of the house except for weddings and funerals.We found this out by mistake!There were no mod cons,water had to be fetched from a pump down the road.Milk was collected from a hill farm.Cooking was done on a paraffin stove.Rabbits and ferrets were kept.We collected rose hips from the hedgerows these were
processed to provide vitamin C for children in London.The school had 2 rooms,but the teaching was very good.Throughout the war we celebrated Empire Day,each child was given a small Union Jack to wave.When the war ended,a bonfire was lit on a hill above the village for VE Day.
When we returned to London the public library was open but we could have only 1 book each,there were no picture books,so many books had been lost in the bombing.This must have made a lasting impression on me as I became a librarian.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.