大象传媒

At the outbreak of the war I was just over 3 years old so the first year or so are unclear.

When I reached school age things became more memorable and I can remember receiving a gas mask in a cardboard box, which had to be carried with me each day. On most days I used to go to the local railway station to meet my father returning from work in Manchester at 5.45pm, hoping to have an uninterrupted meal. However, on most evenings the air raid sirens would sound as soon as we sat around the table and we would all have to dive under this substantial piece of furniture and sit and wait as large numbers of aircraft passed over on their way to attack Manchester.

The windows were all blacked out with special structures made by my dad as it was an offence to show a light. On some evenings my father would not return home as he had fire watching duties in Manchester (he was too old for military service, having been in the first world war). As our house had 3 bedrooms we were required sometimes to have families living with us if they had lost their homes due to bombing and I can recall a family from Manchester and one from London staying with us for long periods.

As children our lives did not seem too badly disrupted as we had plenty of freedom to roam our local countryside and the only deprevations we had were the rationing of food. We were lucky that very few bombs dropped in our area and little damage was done.

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