大象传媒

MY WAR. 1939-1945

When war was declared in September 1939 we were living in Acre way. We had been given a council house because the cottage was small and damp, I was always having bad throats and colds.
We couldn鈥檛 have been at Acre way long as Edna was born in Asp cottage in 1937.
I shall always remember the day war was declared. I was at Sunday school when the sirens went and church bells were ringing, we were told to run home as we would all be killed. I was just 8 years old and terrified. I didn鈥檛 stop running until I got home and arrived in a state of collapse. Dad was furious that I had been frightened like that. I had no knowledge that there was a war imminent. I hated my Dad having to go away and money was very short. We didn鈥檛 have news papers and Mum wouldn鈥檛 listen to the news on the radio as she didn鈥檛 want to know what was happening.

Dad was already in the Territorial Army and had been on training camp so consequently was one of the first to be called up.
He was able to dig out the ground for the air raid shelter. The mud on top was great for making mud pies Some folk had an indoor one; they were huge and took up most of the living room.
There was a brick built shelter in Little Acre, this was to my knowledge never used, We children used to play in it but it was dark and smelt horrible. The ARP hut was in the alley between Hilliard road and Addison Way. Mum used to say we shouldn鈥檛 go in there if invited!!!!!!!
We all had to go to local halls to collect gas masks which we carried around in cardboard boxes . Baby鈥檚 had these large pink crib like things which they were put in luckily we never had to use them We had ration books and identity cards. There was extra milk and orange juice for young children and pregnant women.
The Fire station was in Pinner Rd and the siren was situated there.
Strangely I can鈥檛 remember moving from Asp cottage.The war years were a mixture of good and bad, in the beginning we used to go the shelter every night but after a while we slept back in the house altogether in mums bed or if the siren went we moved down stairs and slept under the large table we had. The sky would be lit up at night with searchlights and London was a golden glow when the bombing was bad, all the houses were blacked out and there were no street lights so outside was very black. If you went out at night you used a torch but weren鈥檛 allowed to shine it up to the sky. As there were no street lamps the sky was black and the stars were beautiful. The Milky Way was very visible, and you often saw shooting stars, we lived in an area which was considered relatively safe so we didn鈥檛 have to be evacuated and although the sirens went we didn鈥檛 suffer too much bombing. Incendiary bombs were dropped around but the worst was when the Doodlebug/flying bomb dropped in Addison way right opposite our house. 4 people were killed and there were serious casualties. I had a small piece of glass in my arm and glass was imbedded in the back of the chair that Mum was sitting while bathing Ruth. Our ceilings were cracked and windows were broken, 14 houses were demolished in nearby roads.
We didn鈥檛 seem to miss out on much, we played in the fields at the back of the house and went up Hogs back, Mum could see us from the house then and we could hear when she called. We played in the street Skipping Rounders and Marbles. We roller skated around the block.
I went to brownies and guides, I had my Aunts old uniform, and I also had my Aunts old school uniform. We couldn鈥檛 go to camp but did have days out. Edna went to dancing class.
We were all sick with chicken pox at the time of the bomb being dropped. Dad was given compassionate leave. Fortunately Dad didn鈥檛 go abroad until the last year of the war so was able to get home quite a bit.
Dad was sent to Aldenham for convalescence after having Rheumatic fever, Mum and Uncle Fred went to visit him in hospital somewhere in Norfolk, while Dad was at Aldenham he made friends with a local farmer, we stayed there with them quite often. For about six months we stayed with Auntie Eva in Milton but Mum didn鈥檛 get on very well with her and we were sick so came back home. I went to the village school and learnt 鈥渞eal writing鈥� in other words joined up writing which I hadn鈥檛 been doing at Pinner road school. We also had a weeks holiday in a ladies home when Dad was stationed in Ullesthorpe. There were some weeks when Mum didn鈥檛 receive a letter from Dad she used to send him stamped addressed envelopes as he couldn鈥檛 always get out of camp.
We had a land army girl billeted with us for a time and two ladies Miss Bax and Miss Brown rented our front bedroom for a while, Mum had extra rations for the land army girl and as she was vegetarian it helped
with the meat ration. Mum never had butter she always gave it to us children. On Sundays we had a roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding and usually apple pie. Mondays the remains of roast would be minced to make a shepherds pie. something easy as Monday was washing day that would take all morning. We ate Liver and bacon sausages or rabbit, a stew with vegetables needed very little meat, on Fridays we usually had fish. Meals were three times a day. Cereal Porridge Bread and Milk Toast or Eggs for breakfast. A cooked dinner with a pudding and then what was called a high tea. Sandwiches , scrambled or boiled eggs on toast. And mum always managed to make a sponge or fruit cake. A favourite sweet for us was Yorkshire pudding with jam or Golden syrup or butter and sugar. Peas and carrots were eaten raw from the garden. We grew most of our vegetables and had two apple trees in the garden as well as blackberry bushes and goose berry bushes. We kept chickens, Mum had names for all of them. We didn鈥檛 miss sweets or fruit, we just ate different fruits, Mum used to bottle fruits from the garden and the Apples were stored for the winter. Foreign fruits such as Bananas and Oranges were rare; we enjoyed Pears Plums and Rhubarb. Bread was lovely in those days no wrapped bread, crusty hot bread. Cottage loaves I liked as by the time I got home with it the top would have been eaten.
Grandad always made sure we had enough coal, he was a coal man. Mum very often borrowed money from Granny and I would be sent down to Grannys with a note for a 拢1 and sometimes sanitary towels. Mum couldn鈥檛 afford to buy them so we made them with a piece of torn sheet and cotton wool. Very cumbersome. The piece of sheet would be boiled after use so that it could be reused.
Mum did some small jobs of housework to help with the money. She only had a little from the army and Dad gave up some of his pay so that she got more. She always managed to make him a cake to take back to camp. Mary Wilford was very good; she worked at St Helens school and often brought home bits of food and clothes that had been thrown out.
In 1942 I was taken to Hillingdon Isolation hospital with Scarlet fever. I spent six weeks there. I also broke my ankle and wasn鈥檛 able to got to school as I couldn鈥檛 have run to the shelters, this meant more time away from school. While I was in hospital Dad sent me chocolate as a treat. I was allowed no visitors.
We spent a lot of time in the shelters at school, we did spelling and mental arithmetic, and the girls would knit or crochet. Other times we played cats cradle. When the sirens went we went to the shelters and were not allowed home until the all clear went or our Mum fetched us.

Ruth was born in 1942. Mum wasn鈥檛 really very well after that Dad was home on leave quite a bit, he was given six months leave in the summer for haymaking and as he was stationed in Britain he would get home as often as he could.
Dad went to Belgium in the last year of the war and even managed to get home from there for a weekend when he brought a prisoner home to get married.
I have a letter I wrote to Dad asking if I could go to a dance with Auntie Dorathy, Dad said no! I was to wait until I was 15. Mum then asked if I could go to Dance lessons.
I can鈥檛 remember much of VE day but there was a street party organized by Mum and Mary on the 16th May. VJ day happened while I was away on holiday with Auntie Ruby in Clacton. There was also a bonfire in little acre.
Dad was demobbed on 16th Oct 1945.

I was living in Acre way Northwood during the war years. This was written as part of my life story. My name then was Pearl Beeton

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