大象传媒

1939 August 27th Had to collect our gas masks today.
September 1st Germany invades Poland
September 3rd War declared by Britain against Germany. Rear lights on bicycles now compulsory. Cycled home, it seemed strange there were no lights now. Blackout imposed.
September 4th Busy making ARP screens for windows.
December 4th Henry has just signed on with the RAF.
December 7th Henry鈥檚 last day at Rowe鈥檚.
December 9th Last night at Priestley Avenue for some time. Closing it up and going back to Mum and Dad
December 11th Went to Exeter to Recruiting Office at 9 am with Henry. He was given a warrant to travel to Uxbridge. I went to the station to see him off.
December 12th Started at Mark Rowe鈥檚 just for the Xmas trade.
December 21st Henry walked in to Mark Rowe鈥檚. He鈥檇 had vaccinations and inoculations and was sent home for Xmas.
December 22nd Last day at Mark Rowe鈥檚. Henry met me.
December 23rd We went and did some Xmas shopping together.
December 25th Henry went to ring the bells at Church and then to see his family
December 26th Went to a dance at the Victory hall with Doris and Frank.
December 27th Henry caught the 10.53 train back this evening. Barry came with me to see him off.

1940
January 11th Henry posted to Felixstowe
January 19th Henry moved to Gosport.
January 20th It鈥檚 been freezing today and the ground is very slippery. Very cold for Devon.
March 19th Easter week. Henry came home on leave.
April 9th Letter from Air Ministry. I am to have 7/6 per week.
May 10th Germany invaded Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. Whitson bank holiday cancelled for all.
May 28th King Leopold of Belgium capitulated to the Nazis.
June 8th Travelled to Colne for a week. Henry in camp nearby. Allowed to sleep out.
June 16th Travelled home. Henry went with me to Chippingham.
June 25th France ceased firing at 12.35 pm. Armistice signed with Germany v Italy.
June 27th Mrs Jocelyn called and asked if I would have an evacuee. I agreed.
June Dunkirk. Our men brought home in little boats. Lost all their equipment.
June 30th My Dad went to hospital to visit 2 welsh boys home from Dunkirk.
July 4th My little evacuee arrived. Boy of 5 years called Peter Bowles.
July 6th Dad brought the 2 wounded Welsh boys for tea.
July 18th I had a letter from Henry. He did well in his exams and has the opportunity to train as an instructor.
July 20th Henry now a wireless operator. Moving to Uxbridge.
July 27th Went to Vic鈥檚 for tea with my evacuee Peter. Peter had a fit. I had the Doctor for him. Shall I write and tell his mother? The doctor said no, it may never happen again and he鈥檚 safer in Exeter than in London.
August 13th Peter and I out shopping in Exeter. There was an air raid and we had to go to a shelter.
August 15th Henry home. We talked about letting the house and moving to the Cranwell area. Henry would live out and travel to Cranwell each day. I saw him off at St David鈥檚 station and then went to shelter as there was an air raid.
August 16th Awful night. Raids from 11.00pm until 3.00am. Jerry planes overhead. 11 bombs dropped. Raids again at daylight. We decided to sleep downstairs in the dining room.
August 17th More bombs dropped in the early hours.
August 18th Had contex fitted to all gas masks. Slept downstairs again.
August 20th I had a letter from Peter鈥檚 mother. She is worried as she heard on the radio that Exeter docks were bombed. It was wrong information from Lord Haw Haw . He was a British subject working with the Nazis. He used to broadcast frequently and people had to listen because he read out lists of prisoners of war. Exeter canal banks were bombed, Exeter has no docks. Lord Haw Haw worked under Goebells minister on propaganda. He was tried and condemned to death after the war. 20 bombs dropped near Crediton and Newton Abbot Station bombed.
August 23rd Henry home. We took Peter to mum鈥檚 at Exminster.
August 25th Henry went back at 4 20pm. I met Mum, Dad, Barrie and Peter and we all went to Hayle for a week鈥檚 holiday.
September 1st Made up beds in the dining room again.
September 4th More bombs dropped..
September 14th Raids again. A plane was brought down in Topsham
September 17th Wrote to Mrs Bowles to tell her I鈥檇 be moving. Bombs dropped again.
September 18th Bombs dropped in Bath Street district. 5 time bombs exploded. Streets and Lady Smith Road School evacuated.
September 24th Mr Collins called. He鈥檇 be moving in on October 12th. I鈥檓 moving out on October 10th.
October 10th I moved out. Dad came to help.
October 12 th Travelled to Sleaford, Henry met me. We have a furnished bedroom with Poulters the fishmongers. We are to have our meals with the owners, Mr and Mrs Sleight.
December 23rd Henry and I risked travelling home to Exminster overnight. Forces not allowed to travel beyond 10 miles radius of camp. We had to dodge Red Caps (Military Police) on Paddington Station. We managed to get to Exeter okay. The mail van gave us a lift to Exminster.
December 24th and 25th. Super. It was lovely to be home for Xmas. I forgot to mention that when I moved from Exeter my parents looked after Peter. His mother wanted him home for Xmas, so on December 22nd Mum put him on a train in charge of the guard. His dad met him at Paddington.
December 26th Travelled back to Sleaford overnight.
December 30th Henry went into a military hospital for an operation for a rupture. The surgeon told him it was the wrong diagnosis. It was a clumsy operation in 1936 and the muscle was damaged. He had sunray treatment.
1941 January 12th Henry allowed out today to visit me. He had just arrived when the phone rang. My brother Barrie (only 17) told us that my dad had been killed by a train that morning. Henry phoned the hospital and they allowed him to sleep out with me that night.
January 13th Henry went back to hospital and they gave him 2 weeks sick leave. That night we travelled home overnight and reached Exeter at 4 am. No train to Exminster for 4 hours so walked home. Had dreadful time as roads were icy and we were struggling with our suitcase. When we got home mum was up and had lit a big fire.
January 16th Dad鈥檚 Funeral. One of the saddest days of my life.
January 27th We travelled back to Sleaford. We had already written to Mrs Bowles of our trouble and that mum could not face having Peter back. We took the rest of Peter鈥檚 clothes and his toys and left them in the left luggage at Paddingtom Station for Mrs Bowles to collect.
April We went home again on a week鈥檚 leave. When we returned Mrs Sleight鈥檚 daughter-in-law met us and said she had fallen out with her mother-in-law and would not be serving in the shop again. She said you鈥檒l have your marching orders too but you can move to my home. This we did.
July My age group will soon have to register to work. As I had no family I knew I鈥檇 be drafted to Grantham Gun Factory so I looked around for a job. I heard sorters were needed at the Post Office. I applied but said I was not interested in sorting but would like clerical work if available. Post Master just took my details.
August 5th Wedding Anniversary. Henry had a 48 hour pass. We went to Lincoln for the day. When we got back there was a letter from the Post Office saying if I was interested in a job in the writing room I was to report at 8.26am on August 6th. I started that day as a wages clerk. Super job. The easiest I had ever had. I earned 拢2.14s.0d per week. I had to work overtime on Saturdays and Sundays, Saturday afternoon on the Counter Saving Bank, Sundays receiving telegrams and some sorting so had 拢3 or 拢4 sometimes which was very good pay for the time.
Xmas 1941
Henry met me Xmas Eve and afterwards we cycled to friends to spend Xmas with them. I only had Xmas day off and Henry only 24th and 25th so unable to get home. As from Whitsun 1940 all bank holidays were cancelled for the war duration).
By this time my brother Barrie was in the RAF training to be a Wireless Mechanic. My mum was working as a passer in a factory in Exeter making parachutes and earning more money than me but she had to work nights sometimes.
1942 In February we had a week鈥檚 leave and travelled from Sleaford to Exminster. This particular journey I shall never forget. We reached Paddington Station an hour earlier than usual. As no one stayed in London long due to air raids, we caught a train that went round Bristol. The direct one not going around Bristol didn鈥檛 leave until an hour or two later. As we reached the outskirts of Bath our train crawled to a stop. Then from our windows we could see incendiary bombs dropping, buildings on fire, fire engines and ambulances arriving. The lights on our train were turned off and we sat in the dark watching. Hours later our train slowly travelled on. As we neared Bristol we stopped again. Some time later the Guard came through to tell us that we had to sit in the train all night. The track further on had been bombed. We had to wait until daylight when the plate layers came on duty to lay a new track so that our train could continue on its journey. Next morning we reached Bristol, very hungry and thirsty, as our sandwiches and flask of tea went the previous evening. Bristol Station had been bombed and a train and a goods train damaged so there was no water, tea or anything available. We felt awful. On we went to Exeter where we at last bought a cup of tea. We then caught the local train to Exminster and were thankful to be home. If we had only stayed in London and caught the later train we would have missed all this and London had had a quiet night.
As I was expecting a baby we had been trying to buy a pram in the towns near Sleaford without success. Prams were scarce as there were no springs or metal to make them. In May Exeter was blitzed for 3 nights. The worst night Mum was working and all the women went to the shelter. The shopping centre was badly hit and the main street flattened. The two shops where I had worked went completely along with Marks and Spencer and British Home Stores to name a few. Bedford Circus and the famous Dellers Caf茅 went. Many people were killed that night. It was a sad sight to see. We came home for a week afterwards. We were still pram hunting. A shop in Exeter that sold Marmet prams had gone but we heard they had opened up in a back street in a garage. We tracked them down and due to the raids Marmet had sent them 2 prams. The salesman told us that they had waiting lists but they had been destroyed in the raids. We were lucky as he sold us one of them. As it was a good make it even had upholstery inside and a reasonable handle. We were delighted.
When we got back to Sleaford Henry was posted to Half Penny green, Bobbington for four months. As I was booked into Laundon Nursing Home to have my baby I had to stay put. I worked until 6 weeks before Janet was born. She was born on 27th August. Henry was flown home on 28th for 48 hours. When I came out of the Nursing Home mum and Barrie came on leave. The landlady of the house where we had 2 furnished rooms would not let Barrie stay so he went right back to Bolton. The next day he travelled to Exminster. Mum didn鈥檛 want to leave me to be on my own with a new baby so we travelled home when Janet was 17 days old. When we reached Paddington we got caught in an air raid. When we surfaced we got on the first train to Exeter reaching there at 2 am. Mum phoned and talked a taxi man into taking us to Exminster. Petrol was short so long distances were out but he took us. I stayed until early December. We paid for our rooms for 3 weeks then the landlady wrote to say that as we had a new baby we could not come back. By December Henry was back at Cranwell and found us a terraced house. It was lovely to be in a house of our own. Mum came up for Xmas.
1943 By now we were severely rationed. White bread had disappeared; our loaves were dark brown and so was the flour as it wasn鈥檛 refined. Shop windows were bare and because there was little we could buy except our rations we became queue maniacs. If a queue started we just joined it not knowing what was for sale. It might be tomatoes, a single custard powder packet (enough for 1 pint) or a yard of elastic for instance, anything that wasn鈥檛 rationed.
In September a Harley Street Specialist who was in the RAF and working at the military hospital a few miles from Sleaford, came to the local clinic. He asked for about a hundred mums to bring their children if they were between 1 and 2 years old, for x-rays. He was concerned to know if there was evidence of malnutrition due to rationing. 98 mums went with their children, by coach to the hospital. I took Janet who was then 13 months old. The children had their wrists x-rayed. Later we were told that only 6 children showed signs of malnutrition and were given a course of treatment. Janet was fine.
1944 By now there were many American servicemen in our country preparing with our Army to cross the Channel and get back into France. One morning in June we were told on the radio that our chaps had landed in Normandy. This day was to be known as D-Day. The RAF went across about a week later when the first landing strip was made. My brother Barrie went with them. When they landed the Germans were waiting for them. They had bulldozed trenches which Barrie and the others were forced to lie in then they buried them alive. Some Dutch resistance soldiers came out of a nearby wood and killed the Germans and then dug out the RAF chaps. It was too late for some but luckily my brother was dug out alive. In July Henry was posted to Chipping Warden, still as an instructor. It was an officers training unit. I packed up at Sleaford and went home to Exminster. At the end of August I travelled to Chipping Warden with Janet. Henry had found us a little thatched cottage to live in. The village was surrounded by the camp so when we managed to get baby sitters, we were able to go to dances at the Sergeants mess which was a real treat. Chipping Warden was a very rural place, we had to get our water from a well and cook by fire.
By December our troops had driven the Nazis out of France and Belgium. Hitler made a last large scale effort in December in the Belgium and Luxembourg Ardennes but they were forced back across the Rhine.
1945 We now were optimistic that the war would soon be over so our troops travelled on into Germany. By April we had met up with the Russians who had been fighting the Nazis on the Eastern front. When Hitler realised the hopelessness of the situation, he killed himself. In May Berlin capitulated, the day was called VE Day. The war with Japan looked like going on for years. In June Henry was posted to Dereham in Norfolk. As by now I was expecting a second baby I decided to go home to Exminster as Henry hoped to be demobbed by the end of the year. This was done on a points system, age and number of years in the service.
In August we heard the news on the radio that the Americans had dropped 2 atomic bombs, one in Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. The results were shocking.
The end of World War 2 came that August and the name was known as VJ Day. As we had let our house for the war duration we gave the tenants notice to quit, but they refused to move. On October 17th Colin was born and on October 18th our case for possession of our home came up. Thankfully we won, but Exeter found our tenants a flat. So in December we moved back to our own home. Henry had been demobbed in November and started work again with his old firm.
1946 It was so wonderful to be back in our own home with an electric cooker and modern conveniences. Food was still rationed which continued for many years but we didn鈥檛 mind. Gradually more men were demobbed during this year. Then the prisoners of war who had been in German prisons came home.
The shop windows were still bare, clothes were still rationed and sweets too. A permit was needed to buy furniture as wood was scarce. During the war nothing much had been made, factories had only been making uniforms and war guns etc. so it took quite a time to change over to making goods for peace time.

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