大象传媒

I was thirteen years old when the war started in September 1939. I went to school in Southgate, North London. The first thing that happened there, was that part of the playing fields were dug up to make Air Raid shelters. Each class had it's own special place in them and each person was issued with a smelly rubber gas mask which was carried around in a cardboard box held over the shoulder with a piece of string. At first there were only a few air raid alerts, but in September 1940 the bombing of London started. When the sirens sounded we made our way to the shelters, where we sat on wooden benches along each side of a tunnel until the "all clear" went. At one time the raids were so frequent that the school was closed, except for one day a week, when we went to school to collect work to do at home. In our house an Infants Teacher taught a group of seven year olds including my sister.
We were often reminded to eat all of our meals,because sailors had risked their lives bringing food across the Atlantic ocean. Ration books were issued to families so that they could buy food in small amounts, just enough for their needs.
The Royal Air Force tried to stop the bombers getting to London, but by the end of 1940 we were having air raids every night. My family shared an Anderson shelter with the people next door. It had been dug out in their garden. As soon as it got dark, the sirens would sound and we would go outside with our blankets and pillows and some food and settle down for the night on bunks, first having made sure that no lights were left on. Often it was difficult to sleep with the noise from aircraft, bombs exploding and anti aircraft guns firing. One gun was situated very near to our house and the noise was deafening when it was fired. My Dad who had fought in the first world war, calculated that the enemy was some way distant when "our" gun was fired, which was some comfort. If you looked out towards Central London you often saw the flames from many fires and also searchlights sweeping the night sky. There were no street or house lights anywhere.
One of the most frightening bombs was nicknamed the "doodlebug". It had no pilot and would fly fairly low with a loud buzzing noise. When it continued past you it was O.K.,but if the noise suddenly stopped, you held your breath knowing that there would be an explosion nearby after about twenty seconds. Another scarey time could occur when you returned home from school after an air raid and were worried that you might turn the corner and find that your home was now a heap of rubble and you family missing. Luckily that did not happen to me.
As well as food, clothes were rationed and later even sweets, but people helped one another all the time.

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