大象传媒

Early in May 1941 we here into a heavey phase of bombing on Clydeside as the Germans wanted to wipe out the ship buliding industry because of its importance in the war, as there was more ships than airoplanes. We were having air raids every night, Paisley being near to the River Clyde (see map). Greenock was an important port for large shipping. Further up the River is Erskine where there was an established home for blinded ex-service men. Further up the River passing the tributary of where the River Cart (which runs through Paisley) enters the Clyde, and on the opposite side (Clydebank and Yorker opposite Renfrew), and on up the River to Govan was where the largest part of the ship buliding was carried out (see map).

We lived in number 12 William Street which was a four storied red sandstone building in the west end of Paisley (see diagram map). At the top of William Street there was a large estate that was probabally at some point gifted for mentally handicaped children. In those days such children and young people were hidden away from the general public and were not even talked about. As a child we used to see what was the equivalent of the modern mini bus come out of the gates and pass down the Street with the children looking out of the windows and that was all we ever knew of them. Early on in the war they were all evacuated somewhere else. The town authorities decided to turn the estate into a First Aid complex. Woodside House where the children had lived was to be used as a headquarters. Some of the trees in the grounds were cut down, but a ring of trees was left inside of which a large First Aid Post was built. It was thought that the trees would provide a camoflague for the building as they were tall and towered above it. The building was off brick toped by a very thick flat roof made of concreate.

Outside on the edge of Woodside Estate was a high stone wall, wrought iron gates and a gate house which separated a wide track leading from William Street into the back yard and stables of Mc Pherson's Cottage. This track was covered with loose crushed clinker dust (the remaining by-product of coke from household gas production). The Town authorities decided to build an Air Raid Shelter on Mc Pherson's track, the same type of building as the First Aid Post.

My father and mother observed that the mortar between the bricks was insufficient and was also falling out and made the observation that, if the shelter was hit by a bomb the walls were just going to collapse and no one would survive and said we would not use the shelter. My father asked Mr White the carpenter next door if he would allow our family to use his barrow store to shelter in during air raids. The carpenter had a large flat topped barrow, (like those the fruit sellers use outside some of the London Undergrounds), for delivering his products. As there were not many lorries in use in those days, and otherwise he would have had to hire a cart, horse and driver from the likes of Mr Pherson, at much expense. Mr White was, of couse, agreeable and gave my father a key.

My father managed the Crown Bar, (see diagram). When the air raid siren sounded he would have to lock up the bar and come home. My mother would hurry down to my grandmother's in Queen Street and bring her up to be with us. On the evening of the 4th of May, 1941 there was a raid and the artillary gun fire was exceptionally heavy. It was already dark before my father got home and before my mother and grandmother arrived the air raid warden ordered the family to go down to the town shelter.

On each storey of Scotish tenement bulidings are three separate flats each with an individual front door. The lady in the flat next to us looked after the public conveniences at the end of the street. She was elderly, widowed and what today would be called clinically obese. My mother took care of her because her two sons
were in the forces and she always came with us to the shelter during air raids. We children had to go with her on the order of the air raid warden down to the public shelter. When my father got home he came and took us to our special shelter. We used to bring down kitchen chairs for the adults and made a bench for the children with orange boxes and a plank of the carpenters wood. My mother used to bring down a spirit lamp for light as batteries were scarce and large torches were not available. In the event we might have all been set alight by what she thought was a safe lamp which had the flame housed behind glass.

We were all settled in the shelter and the Ack-Ack guns were firing continuously. What was happening was that the German bombers were coming up the river Clyde to bomb the ship yards (see map).

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