大象传媒

I was six years old when the siren sounded on that first night of World War Two. Woken from sleep I was zipped into my new siren suit and hurried outside down the garden path towards the shelter - only on that first night it was just a hole we had to sit in, and dad, who had been in the First World War and knew about gas attacks, insisted we held out gar masks at the ready until the all clear sounded.
Everyone had been preparing for war. Mam had been sewing blackout curtains, dad and granddad had been digging the hole in the garden ready for the Anderson shelter, and at school we had been issued with gas masks. I also had my identity bracelet (I can still remember the number!)
very quickly I learned to distinguish between the sounds of our own aeroplanes and those of the enemy. Barrage balloons, and searchlights sweeping the night skies, became part of everyday life. But I don't remember ever feeling afraid, except the time when my sister and I were out in the village one afternoon and the air raid warning sounded. We started to run for home and as we were running we passed a number of men coming off their shift at the Royal Ordance Factory. They shouted encouraging words to us like: 'don't worry luv,' and 'Nowt to be afraid of. You'll be alright.'
At the local Church of England school I attended on the outskirts of Leeds, all the windows had been criss-crossed with sticky tape to prevent flying glass should we be bombed. In our desks we kept our emergency ration boxes - as far as I remember these contained hard biscuits and chocolte bars. The teachers made us practice evacuating the building quickly, lining us up and proceeding towards the air raid shelter in an orderly manner where the register would be checked.
Leeds didn't suffer much damage during the war but my granddparents and most of our relations lived in Hull. I can remembger, as the train pulled slowly into Paragon station, seeing rows of bombed out buildings. On one occasion the siren sounded while we were still on the train and we just had to sit there until the all clear sounded.
We didnt always go into the shelter. One time my cousin and I crawled underneath the large Victorian diding table in my grandparents' house which made it much more like a game.
I was in Hull when the first of the flying bombs came over. Lying in bed I heard an unfamiliar sound, then suddenly it stopped, and after what seemed an age it was followed by a big explosion. That night it was the turn of some other building to be bombed. My granddparents' house was hit later but I wasn't there on that occasion.
One summer night, in Leeds, we all went outside to watch hundreds of planes flying overhead. They were on their way to take part in what was later to become known as the Battle of Britain.
Everyone had to get used to get used to rationining and queuing at the shops. On Saturday mornings I would be sent to stand in line outside the bread shop to buy whatever was available on our ration books, then I would spend a long time in the sweet shop trying to decide what to buy with my 2oz sweet ration. We were issued with clothing coupons but most of my clothes were cut down from other people's. Jumpers were made from wool that had been unravelled from other jumpers then wound round pieces of card and steamed by the kettle until all the curl had gone out of it. The wool was then re-knitted. 'Make do and mend' was a slogan everyone knew. Dad used to repair our shoes on a last he kept in the shed.
Despite the food rationing we never went hungry. We always had a cooked breakfast before we left home in the morning. Most children had a daily spoonful of Virol or cod liver oil and malt, and at school we had a bottle of milk. There were no bananas or oranges available but people grew their own fruit and vegetables, and made jams and pickles. Dad grew potatoes on an allotment by the side of the railway station, mam salted runner beans in glass jars, and fresh eggs, which were precious, were preserved in a solution of Isinglass. To make the butter ration go further it was mixed with margarine and a little milk then beaten until it was creamy.
We children still had birthday parties and played games and mothers somehow managed to provide sandwiches, jellies and cakes. At the end of the school Christmas term we made Christmas decorations and hung paper chains, and again mothers provided the feast. We made presents for our parents and other memembers of the family, and, as if by magic, Father Christmas filled our stockings and sacks. On Christmas day, after unwrapping the presents, the paper was carefully smoothed out and folded to be used again another year. All pieces of string were saved and kept in a tin box. Nothing was wasted.
the treat of the week was our Saturday night visit to the local cinema where we had reserved seats. The main feature feature film was usually preceded by a cartoon and a newsreel but the news was usually old by the time we saw it.
One exciting event I remember vividly was when I arrived home from school one day to see a car parked outside our house. Few people had cars during the war and those who did didn't have petrol coupons, so I ran into the house to see two people I had never met before. The most amazing thing about them was they were both wearing makeup. My mother's brother and his wife were members of E.N.S.A. and were on their way to entertain the troops somewhere. They performed an old fashioned double act, sang, told jokes, and my uncle was also a ventriloguist and played the musical saw. To me they were the most glamorous people I had ever met.
On VE day, after it got dark, my mother took me out to see the 'lights'. these lights were only the lights shining out of people's houses. After years of blackout and wardens coming round to check up on whether you had a chink in your curtains, everyone was enjoying the freedom of being able to light up their houses without question. Later that night there was a big bonfire in a local field. Someone brought a piano outside and people sang. Europe was free at last.
On VJ day there was another celebration bonfire and people talked about the end of world wars.

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