大象传媒

The war rumbled on sometimes very loud, but I suppose Southampton was better defended by then, and there was always a barrage of gun fire whenever the German planes came over and we could see dozens of barrage balloons flying in the sky. But I think a lot of people鈥檚 faith in balloons faded after a daylight raids on the Super Marine factory at Woolstone where a lot of the development of the Spitfire had taken place. It was on a summer Sunday afternoon about 5pm and a wave of German fighters followed by bombers flew over quite low and I watched as the fighters fired tracer shots at the balloons and I should think that at least a dozen of them came down in balls of flames. The gunners brought some of the planes down but not before most of the bombers had got through to their target and virtually destroyed SuperMarine with a lot of lives lost.

It was along this time when for some reason a German plane either in trouble or off course again dropped a string of bombs across the meadow opposite. Luckily this time none were near us but unfortunately three cows in field were killed.

A few weeks after the latest bombs had dropped across the meadow we started to notice that the water in the well that we used for drinking water was getting lower and lower, so much so that the water was cloudy with mud and we had to let it settle and just use clear water. Sometimes it was so bad that we had to go to my aunt鈥檚 next door who by then were on mains water to scrounge a few buckets of water.

At this time it was particularly lucky that we had the Chief Petty Officer and family as lodgers, because suddenly out of the blue a group of navy defaulters complete with picks and shovels arrived and proceeded to dig a trench from the lane to the back door. Shortly after the digging gang, 2 naval plumbers arrived complete with a bundle of pipes and by tea time we were on mains supply. There is no doubt how much we take today鈥檚 modern facilities for granted. At the time it was sheer joy to see the water gush from the tap and not have to wind it up from the well. As a child I remember getting told off for wasting water because I kept turning the tap on just to see the water gush out.

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