大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Catherine Garvie 大象传媒 LPM, on behalf of Laura Ferrier from Kilbowie Primary School with her grandparents permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I have asked my granny Pat and my grandad Bill to tell me in their eyes what happened. I have made some questions for hem to answer and they have.

From the eyes of my Grandad Bill

1. Q.What were your immediate feelings when the sirens went off? A."The feeling was it a real air raid or was it a false alarm"

2. Q.How old were you? A. "I was 10 years old when the war started, 11-12 for the first two years of the war and 12 when the Clydebank Blitz happened".

3. Q.Did you lose anyone close? A. "No I didn't lose anyone close but just a few miles from where I stayed high explosive bombs were being thrown down in Maryhill at the time"
Extra: Was you house hit? A. "No because I lived in Maryhill but there was some shrapnel being thrown at us!"

4. Q. Were you an evacuee? A. "No"

5. Q. How do you feel about it now? A. "Well it's an experience I will never forget".

6. Q. Do you appreciate things more now and if so what? A. This is from what I would say...my grandad doesn't waste food. If you can't eat everything he will take it. It's just from the way he has been brought up!!

7. Q. What did you eat and drink (favourite and least favourite?) A. "My favourite was fish and chips and my least favourite was coffee!"

8. How did your parent's take care of you? A."My father was on night shift. He was a policeman; my mother was a volunteer. She would rest centre (badge), the Red Cross penny a week collector (badge). She worked in theChurch of Scotland canteen services 1 day per week and she would go to the churches knitting Woman's Guild socks, gloves and scarves for the soldiers."

9. Q. What happened about school? A. "The first six months of the war we had no school until someone got in touch with me and then we had a class in a friend's house from school. Ten of us sat around the dining table. The class was 1 or 2 hours long and that was for 2 to 3 months. Then we had normal school from 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m."

10. Q. Was it annoying going to bomb shelters and carrying your gas masks around? A1. "It wasn't really!"

11. Q. Did it sink in or was it unreal? A. "Yes it sunk in. You knew that there were aeroplanes above you and there were guns trying to shoot them down and that bombs were dropping somewhere."

12. Q. Where were you when the bombs hit? A. "I was at the Mega Picture House with my eldest brother (he was on leave with the Army) and then the manager came in and said that there was an Air Raid and that the show would still go on. It finished at 10.30 and the manager said it was still going on? At 12.00 the manager said that it was all clear and it had not gone off, but it was silent and she said that you could go if you wanted to? So we left the cinema to walk home. We had walked 5 or 6 hundred yards when the guns started and my brother (John) said to get down so we got down and started crawling home, but then the guns stopped and we got on our feet again and then walked home to our house when the guns opened up again so we went to get shelter and found that there was a tenement house and we stood in it. After a while we ran to the Air Raid Shelter but my mother wasn't in there because she was at the church and my dad wasn't there because he was at work. My other brother wasn't there either because he was on home-guard (the badge)"
Extra: Bananas!
You couldn't get bananas in the War but a lot of people would get parsnips and boil them in water, then drain the water and mash the parsnip, put in banana essence 2 to 3 drops then mash again and made it taste like mashed bananas!!
From number 1 more: "When the sirens went off I got butterflies in my tummy but I also had a funny taste in my mouth and this only happened when the sirens went off I have never experienced that same taste again!"

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