大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War site by CSV Storygatherer, Martine Knight, on behalf of Molly Loller. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

So many memories!! Here are just a few.

I was the eldest of 5 children during the war (a 6th arrived in 1946). Ages ranged from 1 yr to 7 yrs.

My father was transferred from Croydon Airport to Gatwick, which was a military airfield. We very rarely saw him.
We lived in Horley, Surrey amidst lovely countryside and I remember the barrage balloons at the end of Haroldsea Drive.
I and some of my friends were allowed to go inside one when it was brought down for inspection. At the time I thought it must be like being inside a whale!
I remember trying to sleep under the table shelter, squashed up against Mum and all my brothers and sisters.

I also remember having to rush across the road from our school in Albert Road to the air raid shelters, which were dark and damp. The teachers tried to keep us amused by sing-songs and recitations.

Later on in the war there were stories circulating in the Press and on the Radio that the Germans were dropping what looked like everyday objects, e.g. pens, pencils, small toys etc, which were booby trapped and would explode if you touched them.
One day, in the garden, my brothers found a weird looking spider. It had a human like face on its back i.e. eyes, nostrils and a mouth. My mother was convinced it was one of Germany鈥檚 clever devices and told us not to touch it. She went back into the house and returned with a matchbox. She then managed to coax the spider into the box without touching it. We then took it to the local Police Station where we were treated quite seriously, initially.
A sergeant appeared, took a look in the box, assured us it wasn鈥檛 dangerous and that he would release it in the station garden.
I鈥檓 sure they all had a good laugh after we left.

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