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"This story was submitted to the site by the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Peoples War Team in the East Midlands with Rosalie O'Rileys permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

I lived in Grassmoor in Chesterfield during the war. I was born on 2nd November 1939 as the war was declared in September. The first thing I remember in my life is the little black thing they used to shove me into — a gas mask cot for babies. It was really scary. As a baby I’d probably have been going to sleep but I do remember trying to fight them and get walls on the device trying to get out.

We lived in houses with no running water, a brown sink and a boiler in the corner of the kitchen. There would be eight houses in a square and one drain in the center where we used to empty stuff down. One day my sister went to empty the dregs of a tea pot down it. There were 13 in the family but we were lucky enough to have a big brown tea pot despite being relatively poor. My brothers were tormenting her as she tried to empty the tea pot. To get them back and ward them off she flicked the pot at them to cover them in the dregs. Unfortunately she let go of the pot and it flew out of her hand smashing everywhere. We never saw a tea pot again for the rest of the war.

I remember the day that my uncle came out of the war. He’d been sending my aunt money during the conflict but when she couldn’t get enough wood for the fire she used to burn parts of the furniture. When he came home there were only the fronts of the drawer doors left — when you pulled them out there was nothing behind them.

My father was in the army stationed in India. I don’t really remember very much being such a young child during the war apart from the fact that I never saw him. Throughout his time away there was a big picture of him over the fireplace all dressed up and looking smart in his army gear.

At school we were always warned about planes over head and an enemy attack. One day me and my friend were playing on the field when a group went over head. We immediately all fell flat onto the floor, petrified that they would gun us down on the spot. We lay there frozen until they went past. On another day I can remember being out potatoe picking when a group of planes went over head. They dropped silver paper as they went past. I have never found out why they did or what it was for, but for many days I enjoyed collecting the paper and treasuring it as children do.

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