大象传媒

Although we were surrounded by falling bombs, because of the proximity of shipyards and shipping, our family came through relatively unscathed. My step-dad, who was too old for active service, continued to work at his daytime job but then worked with other volunteers until midnight manning the Newcastle telephone exchange, which released younger men for duty.

My contribution was to "dig for victory" and the corns on my hands for many subsequent years proved my enthusiasm for this duty. We produced many, many vegetables which, in view of the rationing, were very gratefully received.

When the sirens wailed my mother and I would take up residence under the large oak kitchen table, which she assured me would withstand anything - thankfully the proof was never required. Even today, the sound of sirens fills me with terror and brings vividly to mind the sound as the siren died away, of a bomb dropping on the street behind ours, the horrifying period when the whistling stopped and we waited for the explosion, followed by a guilty relief when we heard it somewhere else. A whole block of terrace houses was destroyed. The thought of those people coming out of the airraid shelters to see their homes as rubble still brings tears to my eyes.

Although fortunate people like me lived on the "fringes" of the war, it still affected us in many ways which do not always show on the surface. We definitely all LIVED through it whether in the front line or keeping the home fires burning.

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