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We lived on Gold Hill Saffron Lane Estate in Leicester.
We moved there from Wharf Street in Leicester on the 7th February 1943.
There were five of us children - four girls and one boy.
My mother also looked after a nephew.

As children we can remember Leicester being bombed and if air raid sirens sounded during the school day we had to go into Anderson Shelters which were built in the school yard.
We children took turns to turn the handle of the fan to get air into the shelters.

Dad was in the National Fire Service and was sent away a lot to Coventry, South Hampton and London.

War time was a bit of an adventure for us - there was always good food on the table but no sweets. People could buy off the black market but we didn't do this.
Sometimes shop keepers would give you extra on the rations but would charge for it.

When dad was away we had beds down stairs to save going up stairs when air raid sirens sounded.
In the summer we slept in the Anderson Shelter in the back garden but in the winter it was too cold to go into the shelter so mum shoved us under the beds.

Mum was also involved in fire watching and dad had a light on his bike which shone the letter NFS (National Fire Service) on the ground so that the police did not stop him.

We also remember the blackouts - the house had windows with three panes in them. The two side windows were painted black and the centre pane had a black blind.

This story was told to Dave Bielby of CSV Action Desk Leicester and was submitted to the People's War Website by Lisa Reeves on behalf of Doreen Freer and Sylvia Blundell and has been added to the site with their permission. The authors fully understand the sites terms and conditions.

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