大象传媒

The date was 22nd November 1940, the day before my wedding. At 6pm the sirens sounded and we ran for the air raid shelter in the garden. We remained there for the next 12 hours as German bombers devasted the area. We emerged cold and hungry at 6am the following morning and went in to lie in front of the electric fire to thaw out!
I left home by car to travel the 5 miles to the church but the roads and buildings were so badly damaged by the air raid that the car had to keep turning back and trying different routes. Eventually I arrived at the church to find that it had been hit. There was a blackboard outside with the message 'Would the bride please go around the back'.
When I went into the church, large parts of the roof was missing. The priest that married us, Father Drinkwater, was in hobnail boots because he had been working as an air raid warden all night. He wrapped his thick black coat around my shoulders to try to keep me warm.
We left the church for Laces Photographic Studio in Small Heath to have our wedding photos taken. Once again we had a long journey as the car driver tried to find his way along the badly damaged roads.
At the studio, a kind fireman bought me a badly burned armchair to sit in. It was one of the few pieces of furniture available.
We arrived back at a friend's house where the wedding breakfast was to be held; only to find that there was no water. The men set off with buckets and got water from a nearby hand pump. We partied and sang the evening away, celebrating the fact that we were in love and that we had survived the previous night's bombing attack.

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