大象传媒

My family moved from London to Woodlesford in 1938. We only came for 2 years but had to stay here because of my father's occupation. When the evacuation from London began four of our cousins came to join us and other relatives came in order to have a break from the bombing. One August there were 23 people in our house for 2 weeks.
School carried on as usual but we had to have our gas masks and identity cards with us. Every year a van came to school and we all went through it with our gas masks on. If our eyes were watering when we came out, we were given a new gas mask as the old one was leaking. Also once a year a large diagram of shoe sizes was brought to school. The children stood on the appropriate size for their age group, extra clothing coupons were given and if you were taller than average, that also meant extra coupons. I was lucky and qualified on both accounts.
Air raid practice was an adventure. Each class lined up and filed into the shelters (which smelt of damp and tar). The youngest went in first. If there had been an attack I doubt if we'd all have made it.
In October boys were allowed 2 weeks away from school for potato picking. They had to have record cards stamped in case they used it as an excuse to play truant.

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