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I come from Erdington and my memories of the war was Dunlop’s. We lived by Dunlop’s, and they used to try and bomb Dunlop’s nearly every night. I remember darkness, air raid shelters, the smell; I left my three-wheeler bike at the entrance to this air-raid shelter and my dad fell over it and I got a really good hiding, a really good smack on my arse; I’ve never forgotten that smack.

I don’t know old I was… and I was born in 1937. I was very small but it went on and I can remember, it’s the smell of the air raid shelter, the smell of the cramped conditions, that I had to share a bunk with my friend Gillian next door. They came over every night to try and get Dunlop’s. My Aunty Mary was a warden and she used to have to go and patrol the streets. We used to have great big cans filled with oil all over the pavements and they use to light these every night to cause a horrible smoke so that they, hopefully it did cover Dunlop’s and they couldn’t find Dunlop’s through the smoke, cause they was after the tyres, you know, stop the production of the tyres; …, it was that bad that my Aunty Mary put her foot into one of these and, …, that was awful; she was covered in oil, and got her foot stuck in one of these great big cans., and I, still at home now I’ve still got the blanket that she used to use sitting in her hut, you know, in her air-aid …, air-aid warden she was, yes. The fact that we had to keep chickens, because everything was on ration; so we got chickens at the bottom of the garden, there was a direct hit at the back of our house and a reflection in the window when we looked through, I remember this, looking through, we saw all our windows was lit up and a reflection of the house that was hit at the bottom of the garden; that was absolutely dreadful, we thought our house was gone. I can’t remember going to school…, but I can remember, the sandbags, all the horrible sandbags all up the windows and I can remember taking the sandbags down at the end of the war and there was a toy…, there was a Nutcracker dog on the window sill. I’ve since seen it on the Antiques Roadshow and I went and found it, and I’ve got it on my window sill, now. Yes, because I can remember, when the sandbags came down , there was this lone … dog on the window sill at the back of the sand, all rusty, and I’ve had it cleaned up and it’s on my window sill, now. …It was a Nutcracker. You picked his tail up and you put a nut in his mouth, and, you brought the tail down and it cracked the nuts and, it’s still on my window sill, yes…, sentimental.

It’s the smells, and also it was…yes, during the day, I used to lie in bed watching the Barrage balloons and they was practicing jumping out, and of course, we’re…yes…in the parachute; and the whole sky was full of those, to stop them getting Dunlop’s. They was surrounded by Barrage balloons, and the planes were so low, so low!
And our planes! they seemed as if they were just going over, skimming the tops of the houses. It was awful, I can remember that, I can remember the sounds.
Yeah, and I can remember the parties afterwards.
Hollydale Road, in Erdington it was a cul-de-sac, we had great big bonfires and..., I’ve still got the photographs of street parties and everybody dressed up. That was absolutely wonderful…, like a Guy Faulkes, we did a Hitler, figurine and stuck him on the top, and… I remember that.
Coupons, Coupons! I can remember, er…, yeah, I remember, I can remember my first banana, can you? And I remember having to eat…and I remember…, I can remember having to eat Rice pudding! Rice pudding everyday! But the first banana, I remember that, oh!...oh! we had to queue for that and I remember that, the first banana. Oh! And we was allowed points for rice…for, chocolate and, and because we used to have to have that horrible codliver oil…, my mum used to break off, it was a Milk Tray block …Can you remember those? And every one was different, they don’t do them anymore going back to school…, I can remember going back to school, she used to give me… one of those, bits of the block to take with my codliver oil …yes, yes.

That’s about it.., oh, I can remember going, walking up, Kingsbury Road to Wookery Park and the Yanks were based there, or something; and I used to shout: “Give us some Gum, chum; and they used to throw Spearmint at us, I remember that. Loads and loads of lorries of Yanks. They must have been based up the Kingsbury Road, somewhere, cos I was walking up to Wookery Park. But it was the smells, and the…, the smoke and nearly every night, because they was after Dunlop’s. They was after Dunlop’s…

(This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Wyre Forest Volunteer Bureau on behalf of Diane Charles and has been added to this site with her permission. Mrs Charles fully understands the site's terms and conditions.)

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