大象传媒

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During the year 1938 I was a pupil at Stroud Green Junior School, Woodstock Road, London. Being just 8 years old I was not very up to date with world events. I remember the uneasiness that was around; during the summer there was much talk of evacuation. There were practices in getting ready to be evacuated, taking to school cases ready packed and preparation assemblies. By the end of the year this was not so obvious and by Christmas, everything seemed to be back to normal. There was still some talk of a war and in the local Finsbury Park there was much activity, although there were no restrictions on walking around the park, the space was being taken up by the erection of army huts for barracks. Anti-aircraft guns were being built on the running track in the centre of the park and where the football pitch was by the side of the Seven Sisters Road, barrage balloon units were being constructed. It was quite a sight to visit the park and watch the army practising with their guns.

During the summer term the talk of evacuation came up again, my mother discussed that in the event of hostilities the school was being evacuated to Hertfordshire and the town of Hatfield was mentioned. She was very unsure of this location and decided that I would not go with the school. Summer holiday came as usual but I can remember going into school to be issued with a gas mask. We had instruction on how and when to put these on. We were told that the sound of a rattle, like those used at a football match, would indicate there was a gas attack and to put them on.

At the outbreak of war on 3rd September, my father decided that my mother and myself should go to her sister and brothers in Aberdeenshire, where they lived on a farm. The following day we took the night train from Kings Cross to travel north to Aberdeen. This journey was quite memorable as the train frequently stopped and for long spells travelled quite slowly. There were no restaurant or buffet cars on the train, on stopping at stations if there were any refreshments available, queues formed very quickly. As food rationing was beginning to take effect it was not always possible to get anything to eat or drink.

We stopped on the farm for about six weeks, when we returned to London again using the night train. This train journey was totally different as now all the window blinds were drawn and the internal carriage light was dimmed. There were many servicemen and women travelling. On returning to our hous4e, I noticed as like many other houses all the windows had brown paper strips stuck on them. This was to prevent the glass shattering if a bomb dropped close by. The wrought iron railing and gates at the front of the house had been removed. The reason for this, it was to be used for making munitions (later to be found out not to be correct as the metal was not suitable for this use).

My father, being a clerical officer at the Board of Trade, was not being evacuated out of London. My parents decided to rent a house in the countryside and as my father had to get in and out of London to his office it was necessary that he be on a commuter route. Their decision was to go north, somewhere on the local railway line from Kings Cross. They rented a house at Potters Bar and we moved there within a matter of weeks. The uncertainty of the situation with the anticipated invasion meant all schools had been closed, thus for some months we didn't go to school. As the war seemed to be concentrated in France, the imminent threat seemed to be over, schools opened for morning attendance. On attending Ladbroke School in Potters Bar there was a lot of work being carried out in the playgrounds, excavating the ground and burying large concrete tubes. These were fitted with seats and became air raid shelters. When the air raid warning sounded, the school buildings were evacuated and we assembled in these shelters. The teachers organised singsongs, not only to keep us amused but also to take our minds off what was happening. For some reason we moved again, to a house at the rear of a shop on the other side of Potters Bar. It was when we were living there that the bombing of London started. On going into the garden one evening and looking towards London I saw the whole of the sky illuminated in a red glow and the sound of gunfire. This was the docks in London being bombed. It was after this that there followed a period of night bombing. The air raid siren would sound in the early evening and we would wait to hear the droning sound of the planes overhead then the bombs descending, followed by them going off. One evening, in particular, was when the sound of the planes was very loud, we left the room we were sitting in and went into the covered alleyway between our houses when suddenly there was a large explosion and all the windows shattered. Plaster crumpled around us. After realising we were not injured we went back into the house and found the room we had been sitting in completely wrecked, the chairs we had been sitting in covered in dust and masonry. The gas and electricity had been cut and water was spilling out of the kitchen pipes. It was later established that a German bomber had released two land mines, which had landed to the rear of the house. The nearest one, about 400 yards away made a crater at least 30feet deep. The other one landed on the cemetery about half a mile away (it was ironic that this was the cemetery that contained the crew of the German Zeppelin that had been shot down in the area during the First World War). As our house was inhabitable we were billeted with a family until our house had been repaired.

Air raids lessened but there was still the odd occasion when we had daylight attacks and we would watch our fighters engaging enemy ones. Towards the end of 1940 attacks got fewer and we returned to our house in Stroud Green. The street was far different, as many of the houses had been demolished in air raids. Stroud Green School had reopened and I returned to school there. During 1942 an unexploded bomb was thought to have been dropped in the playground and it took some time before it was located and made safe. Needless to say the school was again closed for this to be done. In late 1943/early 1944 air raids on London began again, during this time the guns in Finsbury Park were very much in action. My mother, who was doing essential war work on London ambulances, decided that I should go back to her brothers and sister in Aberdeenshire. Again we took the night train from Kings Cross to Scotland, this was a more eventful journey as the train stopped several times due to air raids. It was quite an experience travelling in blacked out trains.

On arrival at the farm it was discovered that I could not attend the nearest village school because it was full up and the only school I could attend was the one in a town 8 miles away, called Inverurie. In order to attend it would mean a mile walk to the main road from the farm and then a bus ride. So that I could attend this school I was billeted out with a family in Inverurie as an evacuee. I found living in Scotland a lot different from England, firstly I had to get used to the accent, as a lot of the words they used were different. Schooling was very different, their term times were such that there was a short summer break and another break in the late autumn when you had to go onto farms and gather potatoes. I noticed that the shops were much more plentiful with food and fresh fruit (except bananas) on sale.

I spent three to four month with this family and unfortunately one of the daughters of this family caught polio and I had to leave. My uncles and aunt took me in at the farm and on obtaining a 拢5 bursary I could travel the 8 miles to school by bus. Although my uncles had a car the use of it was restricted due to petrol rationing, the weekly journey to market to restock groceries was all they could manage.

I remained at the farm until VE Day in 1945 when I returned to London.

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