大象传媒

The war started for me when I was 11 years old, in church. I was singing in the choir when the Vicar stopped the service to announce that war had been declared and we were to go home as the air raid sirens were issuing warnings! I remember grown-ups being very "edgy" because they thought we would have imminent air raids and invasion.

My two brothers and my sister were quite a bit older than me - both brothers volunteered for the R.A.F. and my sister worked in the Arsenal at Woolwich. She married in 1940, and because her husband was away with the R.A.F.- she lived at the family home in Welling.

When the air raids started we slept in an Anderson shelter every night as a matter of course. There was no point in going to bed and having to get up again several times in the night to go to the shelter. It was very damp and cold, and we only had a "two section" shelter, which meant there was no room for bunks, and we had to sleep curled up because of insufficient length. We emerged from the shelter after one raid during which the house windows had been shattered by blast from a nearby bomb. The garden was covered in pieces of paper (as was the garden next door), and we thought the Germans had been dropping leaflets! We then noticed my Dads` overcoat hanging on the clothesline to air and some papers falling out of a pocket. My father was a printer and had copied a "naughty" rhyme - and these copies were our leaflets!

My eldest brother was stationed in the Shetlands during the blitz and when he came home on leave was devastated by the bombed ruins in London, as he didn`t realise it was so bad. When bedtime came we got ready to go to the shelter as usual. He said, "I`m not sleeping there - I`m going to my own bed!" In the middle of the night he was at the shelter banging on the little wooden door and asking to be let in because of the severe raid and noise from the mobile guns. In the morning he was off back to the calm of the Shetlands!

At one time School was held in "trenches" dug in the playing fields, and we used to start at 8.30a.m. and finish at 1.00p.m. I believe this was to save fuel and no lunches had to be provided. Some of my classmates were killed one night when a land mine fell on a housing estate. There was no counselling then, we just had some prayers and then got on with living!

I awoke one morning feeling rather hot and with two red lines travelling up my right arm to the glands in the armpit. This was poisoning caused by a cat scratch on my hand. There were no anti-biotics then, so my Mother had to poultice the site of the scratch with very hot swabs and bread several times daily. I had to rest my arm in a sling, and was told by many of my school friends that I would most probably lose it! Another time I remember being very ill with some form of dysentery and being confined to bed for almost six weeks. By then we had an indoor Morrison shelter as well as the Anderson in the garden. Mother was very worried because everything I ate or drank went straight through after giving me a lot of pain! I think I had one visit from the Doctor during that time - there was no N.H.S. then and doctors` fees were very expensive! He advised my Mother to keep me in bed, as I was very feverish, and to feed me on arrowroot! I know I lost a lot of weight and was very weak.

During the blitz the air raid alert was sometimes on for hours and in the daytime if things were quiet people went about their daily tasks. Once my Mother and I were in the kitchen when a plane flew over and started dropping bombs. Mother grabbed me and pulled me into an alcove for shelter- which also housed the gas cooker! Not the safest place -but it seemed so at the time! Another time I was out walking a neighbour`s baby in a large bassinette type pram. The sirens went off and the guns started firing at the planes- there was nowhere to shelter so I continued towards home- I put the pram hood up hoping it would keep the baby safe. Fortunately we were lucky and arrived home unscathed.

We often used to watch the "dog fights" from the garden. Everyone used to cheer our planes on- quite exciting! One day one of the German fighters was shot down and the pilot parachuted out. He landed in a nearby field and a crowd of people dashed there to see what was happening- and possibly take him prisoner! Some of them sounded very hostile- but the Home Guard were already on the scene and kept the people back. The pilot was lying down- I don`t know if he was dead or alive- and eventually they covered him with his parachute and stretched him away.

The men who were still at home used to take fire watch duties. Lots of incendiary bombs were being dropped and they used to have buckets of sand and stirrup pumps to deal with them. My Father used to do this as he felt he wanted to "do his bit". He had been gassed in the Great War and was not in very good health as a result. One night he brought one of the men home who had badly cut and bleeding legs, so they dressed his wounds as best they could until an ambulance came to take hime for treatment.

When the American soldiers came to Britain most people were quite suspicious of them and they had a bad reputation with parents because of their daughters- they used to give the girls nylon stocking and chocolate, both of which were unobtainable here! One day my friend Maureen and myself saw a Jeep parked in the street and we invited the soldiers into her house for a cup of tea. One of them was black- and this was a rarity then. They were very nice and very homesick, and talked about their families at home and showed us photos of them. Maureen`s mother was out at the time, and was furious when she arrived home and found out what had happened. Of course she told my Mother about it, who was also very annoyed and put us through a thorough cross-examination!

I had a pen friend who was the son of one of Mother` close friends. He was serving in the R.A.S.C. in S.E.A.C., and used to draw some lovely cartoons to accompany remarks in his letters. I wish I had kept them, as they were very apt and witty. His name was Frank Neatham and I know he came home safely after war ended and lived in Thornton Heath, but I sadly lost touch with him and often wonder if he is still around- although he was a few years older than me.

I left school in 1942 and worked at an office in Bexley. I used to cycle to work from Welling as my wage was only 50p (ten shillings) a week, and I couldn`t afford bus fares. Once or twice weekly I would have a 2-course lunch at the Civic Restaurant for less than 5p.(one shilling) which used to help out at home with the rations. On my journey to and from work I used to take a short cut through Danson Park where there were some soldiers in a gun emplacement. One day there was an air-raid alert and their officer yelled at me "Get off that bloody bike and take cover! Don`t you know there`s a war on?" I didn`t know where I was supposed to shelter, so just speeded up and carried on cycling! It was dangerous to be outdoors during a raid as pieces of shrapnel from the guns used to rain down.

My sister gave birth to her second daughter in 1944. In the middle of the night I had to go about half a mile to the nearest phone box. (Very few people had telephones at home in those days). There was an air raid alert on and a Warden stopped me because he thought I should take cover. I explained that my sister was in labour and I had to call the nurse- so he kindly walked with me to the phone box. The baby was safely delivered under the Morrison table- and then mother and child were carried to the Anderson- which was considered safer.

I joined the Civil Defence as a spare-time telephonist to organise emergency vehicles. Our headquarters were in the cellars of the Mansion in Danson Park- it amuses me to think that I went there one night each week for duty, taking shifts and sharing a dormitory with both men and women- but if I went out anywhere socially I had to be indoors by 9 o`clock or else! Mother said when I joined "At least you`ll get a tin hat and a proper gas mask!" One night I was asleep in my bunk and woken up to go on duty as there was a raid on and the switchboard needed manning. The cellar floors in the Mansion were stone flagged and damp. I slipped as I was running to the Control room and landed on my chin with a thud! I broke a lower front tooth slightly and had a large swelling on my chin - I also think I shook my brain up a bit as I felt concussed and could "see stars", but managed to complete my shift on duty.

In 1943 I went to work at the Royal Exchange in London.

I used to travel on the workmen`s trains that were supposed to arrive in London by 8.00a.m. This was because the fares were much cheaper also because I didn`t have to start work until 9.30a.m. it gave me time to have a coffee and a bath bun in Lyons for my breakfast- and also allowed extra time for any delays on the journey to work due to unexploded bombs, damaged lines etc. During the doodlebug raids I was in the ladies cloakroom at work one morning quite early. The cloakroom had a massive glass-domed roof. I heard a doodlebug coming and then the engine cut out which meant it was on the way down. I though of all the glass above and decided to get into my locker (which was metal and long enough to accomodate coats). The bomb landed in front of Cannon Street station and the blast closed the locker door!
I had to wait until others arrived for work to be let out!

In late 1944 my eldest brother married a W.A.A.F. from Huddersfield. My Mother and I were the only family members that could attend the wedding, and we went to Huddersfield by train from London, which at that time was the longest distance we had ever travelled! I was bridesmaid together with the bride`s sister. We wore borrowed dresses (including the bride) so nothing really matched, but it was a lovely wedding despite all the restrictions. My brother had no one to be "best man"-but we went to a dance the night before the wedding and managed to find a soldier who agreed to help out and carried out his duties very creditably!

The European War ended and the V.E.Parade in London was marvellous. There was a terrific atmosphere of joy and friendship. I was extremely lucky to have survived the war, with my family intact, and to be one of the huge crowd that cheered the Royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

At6 the end of May 1945 my friend Marjorie had been very ill and was going away to recuperate. Her mother asked me if I would like to go on holiday with them as a companion for Marjorie. I had no spare money for holidays, but my youngest brother who had been away in the Middle East for over four years had just been repatriated and gave me the cash to go. We went to Gorleston-on-sea and had a lovely holiday-although the beach was not available to us as it was heavily mined and fenced off with barbed wire. On the journey home I met my future husband, who was in the Royal Navy based at Yarmouth and going home to Bromley for the weekend. We have now been married for 55 years and have enjoyed a happy life together.

My friend Marjorie`s father was taken P.O.W. at the fall of Singapore - and worked on the dreaded Burma railway. Unfortunately he died shortly before the camp was released- Her mother married his friend who came to see her when he arrived back in England - and told her the details of her former husbands` captivity and death.

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