大象传媒

I was attending the Acacias school when war was declared with Germany. I remember air raids and the warning sirens of impending disaster maybe. That horrible noise will always stay in my memory. At first my mother, father and I, all sat under the stairs with our gas masks at the ready. Under the stairs was reputed to be the safest place in a house, if it got bombed. Later we went to the shelters at the Acacias school, where the cellars had been reinforced. It was quite a jolly time really. Everybody made light of the situation and they served tea and oxo to drink. The part I did not like was when you had to make a toilet call. Parties of about 8 at a time, all had to go upstairs. It was frightening. Also one night, an air raid warden came rushing down the stairs, reporting that incendiaries had been dropped on the school and the signs were that the school was on fire. Naturally we all thought we might be burned alive. As it happened, some desks had caught on fire, but were quickly put out by the wardens. Probably because of this incident, my mother decided we should escape to safety. As my father had relatives in Bispham, we went there. Dad of course stayed at home. He was the cashier at St Marys hospital. Due to mother making her own arrngements, I was not evacuated with the school and went to a local school in Bispham. I remember being in a crowd scene, in a show, singing There'll always be england!! After a few months, on one of mothers visits to see me, she informed me that the Acacias was going to open again, for a few hours a day, so I was brought home. We were then issued with a morrison shelter, which was put up in front dining room. When the sirens went all three of us crawled into what was like a big cage with mesh sides, and during the day it served as adining table. we used to count the planes overhead, and made a guess as to whether they were ours or theirs. My mother would go all religious, and start singing hymns, when a raid was on, and when the 'all clear,' sounded, we would go back to our beds.
During the daytime I can remember looking for shrapnel in the garden. Once myself and a few friends went to Avon Road, to see a house where incendiaries would have been dropped on the roof.
Burnage gave hospitality to american soldiers and my mother had two officers billited on us in Lindsay Road. They were doctors and came one at a time. They held surgeries for the soldiers at a converted shop at the bottome of Grangethorpe Drive where it joins onto Kingsway. It was not unusual to see them marching in small squads along Burnage Lane and other areas. I remember the barrage baloons on Crossley Road playing fields. Lots of helmets, gas masks and sand bags about. We were thoguht to be vulnerable in Burnage, due to our close proximity to the 'Fairey Aviation Factory'. The factory became famous for its brass band conducted by Harry Mortimer, and its name still lives on today.
On VE night I remember we had a bonfire with fireworks in the garden of a derelict house on Clifton Street next to Mrs Butterworth and her son, Roger. At Clifton street now Connaught Avenue, a grand time was had by all the neighbours.
Shopping was another subject when i went to 'Prescotts,' the fruiterers, opposite the Acacias school. Mother would write a shopping list and tell me to ask if they had any bananas or oranges. They used to laugh so much as though I was asking for gold, so I remember saying to my mother that I was not going to ask again!In that row of shops was 'Hampsons' the fish and chip shop. next door was the entrance to 'Sellars' the hairdressers and then 'Dewhursts' the butchers where mother would get her meat ration. I remember 'George Masons' and the 'Georginas'. She sold gowns and general drapery. She was also a corsetiere and would measure you, to order a spirella corset! Then came 'Downeys' a confectioner who would cater for parties and hire out a room above the shop for weddings etc.
I also remeber a cousin coming to visit us. He normally lived in Camberley, Surrey but was stationed with the RAF, at Heaton Park. He came with a friend and they played the piano. I always associate the tune 'Tea for two' with that event. the only casualty in our family that I knew about was a relative who was captured by the Japanese and sent to a prisoner of war camp. When I met him, he was so emaciated, I shall never forget the meeting. Just one of the ravages of war.

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