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At eight years of age when war was declared, memories of bad times are a little vague.
We lived in the suburbs of Birmingham, and Dad built our Anderson shelter in the garden which he named 'the better 'ole'. It was very cold and damp and quite scary when the German Bombers droned overhead. We would often visit relatives living in Gooch St, and Lower Essex St in the city centre and go down into the cellar if there was an air raid. On other occasions, my Dad, who was a driver for Slumberland of Tysley, would take us out into the countryside where it was quite an adventure to sleep in the back of the lorry.
I remember being evacuated for a short time to a place called Pipewood camp, where we slept in dormitories, explored the countryside, and Saturday evenings had a sing song (the only tune that comes to my mind is ‘I’m forever blowing bubbles’)
Within three weeks I was home again with Mum going frantic with a toothcomb and Durbac soap for my hair. More often there were happier memories of matinees at the Maypole cinema where Johnny Mack Brown and Flash Gordon had us enthralled…blackberry picking with Dad who sang ‘It looks like rain in Cherry Blossom Lane’…going to the ‘junior miss’ dept at C&A with Mum to by a matching coat and hat for ‘Sunday best’… school dinners at Grendon Rd juniors, long walks to Sunday school at Highters Heath.
Visiting Grandparents and hearing Grandad (who was a CSM) shouting orders at my four uncles, who were also in the army. Grandad once brought home fruit from abroad and I was given a lemon to take to school for a raffle.
We raised the princely sum of £2, which was donated to the Red Cross. Favourite radio shows were ‘The Old Town hall’, with Clay Keyes and ‘Penny on the drum’, ‘Happydrome’ and ‘Monday Night at Eight’, plus of course…the great day when my ‘Beano’ arrived.
Fondest memories are time spent with Yardley Wood Imperials jazz band. Whole families were members and we gathered in school halls for weeks to rehearse. Mums and Aunties made our uniforms, which were emerald green and gold, spotless white pumps and gloves and a green beret with gold tassel that bounced as we marched along. All the bands would arrive by coach on carnival days, and each would do a marching demonstration and tableaux. Our band formed a large circle and we played ‘If you were the only girl in the world’, while two little tots suitably dressed weaved in and out of us. This proved very popular and gained us quite a few trophies. Other happy memories are of seaside holidays, proudly wearing my new knitted costume which turned out to be extremely itchy and weighed a ton after a paddle in the sea…birthday parties in our frilly frocks and dreading the time where the hated pink blancmange were served.

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