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In 1939 I was at Nantwich and Acton Grammar School. I went by train from Audlem Station to Nantwich. I was the only girl going from Audlem so it was lonely in the black out. The only other pupils travelling were two boys. I caught the 8.25 am there and the 5.15 pm back. After prayers at school we had gas mask drill and air raid shelter drill. I was in the hockey and tennis teams so I had to cycle to school for matches on Saturdays.
I had completed my school certificate by January 1941 when I was taken ill with jaundice. I missed a whole term so I left and I got a job with the Inland Revenue in Crewe. I cycled to Crewe for the 8 am start and worked until 5 pm then cycled back again.
In June I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and spent six months in the North Staffs Royal Infirmary. Visiting from Audlem was difficult with the shortage of petrol but they usually managed it once a week. An aunt who lived in the potteries would come and lots of parsons! I made friends with another girl who never had any visitors and she was able to eat some of my food that I was not allowed. I was discharged as incurable. I weighed four stone and the doctors expected I would not live much longer but I am still here! Two bombs were dropped in the hospital grounds while I was a patient there.
In January 1942 I went to live in Nuneaton (Warwickshire) on my aunt and uncle’s farm. I was on a very strict diet so food was easier on the farm. I even drank the mare’s milk when she foaled. There was an ack-ack searchlight unit on the farm so things were very active with soldiers everywhere. Coventry was bombed when I was down there, we spent the night in the cellar — a nasty experience.
In 1944 I came back to Audlem and had to do ‘war work’. I worked on a farm at Woore and later came home to help my father and step-mother. I met my husband, Horace when I was in Warwickshire. His cousin was a family friend. He was in the RAF in India but came home with dysentery and was in the hospital. We married in 1951.

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