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I was 10 years old when the war started and can recall what I was doing on the Sunday morning when Mr. Chamberlain was giving the announcement on ‘the wireless’ — I had one hand on the piano and one on the table and was ‘swinging’, only to be told to be still and be quiet as ‘ this was important’.
We lived in the centre of Leicester, the houses are no longer there, it is the site of De Montfort University. We were late going back to school that September as they had not finished putting sandbags round the building and sticky tape on the windows.
When the sirens ( moaning Minnie) started I remember my stomach churning feeling I had every time the alert went off — I never did get over that feeling.

‘This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Irene Frith and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.’

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