大象传媒

This story was told to Helen Kemp at Fairfield Manor Residential home Broadstairs, Kent.

Margaret Emerson was born in 1915 on a farm in Co. Kerry, Southern Ireland, one of 17 children, 8 sisters and 8 brothers.

My school was on the farmland and I enjoyed playing hopscotch, skipping and any game that was free. I didn't like learning. When I left at 14 I could always hear the children playing in the school from our house.

I came to England when I was 17 because there was no farm work in Ireland. I lived in London working as a housemaid then moved to Chislehurst, North Kent to work as a waitress in a golf club and that is where I met my husband. We were married in 1941 and had three children, 2 sons and 1 daughter.

During the war I worked in a munitions factory mainly making guns. My husband joined the Air Force and was one of the ground staff somewhere in Norfolk. I was very sad when he went away but glad when he was on leave. Some of the war time was happy, some was hard. I remember very cold winters, we didn't have central heating then. We grew some of our own food which helped.

I was taken down the caves in Chislehurst which were used as air raid shelters but I only went down there a couple of times during the raids. We got on with it although there was plenty of bombing. We always seemed to be running somewhere carrying our gas masks.

We used to go out a lot mainly to other people's homes and also went to the cinema and dance halls. I couldn't go to pubs as my parents wouldn't have liked that.

We enjoyed listening to the radio especially Vera Lynn and Bing Crosby. We didn't like rationing especially the dried egg, it was all yolk but we used to swop for other foods.

I carried on working after the war with my husband at the golf club as money was very short but in all, I have had a very good life.

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