大象传媒

These memories were typed by Erica Wraight, volunteer at the Shotover Day Centre, and added to the site by the authors' permission.

1939--We lived in a field with two tidehouses (farmhouses) in Thame, about eighteen miles from Oxford. There was a big search light at the top of the field called Big Bertha. We remember when a German aeroplane came over the field and the searchlight flashed over it. Caught in the light, the pilot immediately had to drop his bombs. This was about three miles away from our house. The bombs shook everything. Mum was reading a letter from Granny, who lived in Coventry. At the precise moment when mum was reading about a bomb dropping in Granny's bedroom, our own house began to shake. All the pictures fell off the walls from the vibrations.

We also remember when one of the farmers left a candle lit in our nearby cow shed, leaving a sliver of light shining through the black out. Seeing the light, a German aeroplane headed for the cow shed, but missed it. The aeroplane landed in the 'Show Field,' where recreational activies were always held, behind our house.

We also had two evacuees, named Winnie and Dora, stay with us at Thame. We turned the tool shed into a little playhouse for them. I remember mum saying that she made a furry hat for one of the little girls. When Winnie and Dora returned back to London on the train, the train was bombed--and they were killed. Dad used to adore them, until [Jean]I was born.

We never had any food. [Jean]I remember when I was a little tot, I reached for a big white thing on our counter, thinking it was cheese. Taking a big bite of it, I realized that it was only a piece of soap! Dad used to buy blackmarket meat. Flies would be all over it. If you looked at the meat long enough, [Bernard]I am sure that it moved! Dad would wash the meat in a big vat of vinegar. We also used to eat loads of rabbits--rabbit brains and pigs' heads. We had to make do. [Jean]I never tasted sugar until I was nine.

We used to make socks out of cardigan sleeves. We would use cardboard to fill the holes in our shoes. We'd have to change the cardboard often, because it would always get soggy!

[Jean]I had a red Mickey mouse gas mask. It had big plastic eyes and a waggly piece that came out the front. The babies had big resperators. [Jean] I think that Dad fetched them from town hall. Oh, they were horrible things. So many times [Bernard] I would go home and realize that I had forgotten my gas mask somewhere. I would then have to walk back (sometimes over 10miles) to try to find it.

We had candles everywhere. [Jean] I remember sitting on the stairs everynight and listening to 'The Man in Black' murder series on the radio. My brothers would blow out the candles to make it more scary for me. We really got into it. Our imaginations would take over.

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