大象传媒

CRAMPED ACCOMMODATION
[Ronald Eric Gould, born 12/7/1928, an Evacuee from Guernsey, left the Vauxbelets school in the summer of 1942. Edited extracts from typescript he prepared in 2005.]

Throughout our time in Bradford we lived with Mum's sister Hilda and her husband Jack, daughter Betty and daughter-in-law to be Olive, their son John was in the airforce. On arrival in Bradford in June 1940 Auntie Hilda, who was the driving force in her family, left her old mother-in-law, who was in her late 80s, with friends and went around looking for properties to let and she soon found a quite nice semi-detached house on an estate called "Cooperville" at Horton Bank Top. At this time she and her family had been placed with a couple at Great Horton, which was a little way down the road. Besides finding the house, 48 Mandale Road, she also managed to furnish it, all bits and pieces given by kind people. Auntie Hilda was a 'go'er' and they had not been there very long when her mother in law died, by that time she was quite senile. I believe it was a 'happy release' - she still believed that she was at St Sampson's Bridge.

48 Mandale Road was quite suitable for the family at first, then I started to arrive at school holidays and space was found for me, but when in June 1942 Mum came up from Basingstoke and Pam and Jean came down from Paisley, we started to 'bulge at the seams', but still Auntie managed.

I slept on the floor in the front room for three years on a rolled up flock mattress and I had no problems, but when John came on leave and he and Olive said they were going to get married, nothing Auntie and Uncle said would change their minds, so that meant more squeezing up and to add to it all it was not long before Olive was pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl.. Two bedrooms and a boxroom to accommodate 10 persons, not ideal - but we managed!

Mum worked in 1940 for the Co-op in Basingstoke and when she came up to Bradford she transferred to the Co-op at Horton Bank Top, but she was still recovering from her operation and she found the work too heavy.

Olive was working in a factory making overalls and Mum joined her and I every morning they would set off, rain or shine, to walk right down to Lidgett Green to A.I.S. Allied Industrial Services. I used to feel so sorry for Mum when she got home at night, shattered. One must remember, we grew up in a generation where the housewife stayed at home and did not go out to work and it did not seem right that our Mum had to go to work. Mum spent a lot of her time biting her tongue and keeping the peace, It was not easy for them, they were very kind to take us all in but nobody thought it would be for so long.
Dad had a house ready for us so we were one of the very early families to return. The Germans were still here clearing up.

[See also contribution by Jean Taylor and Pamela Gavey, Ron鈥檚 sisters]

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