大象传媒

The Air-Raids became more intense early 1941. They always started about 7 o'clock in the evening and went through the night. By this time, they didn't bother us too much, but I stress strongly that this was because we lived on the outskirts of Liverpool; the city itself and all the docks were about to be bombed almost to the ground!
One night my mate Godfrey and I decided we wanted to see a Pat O'Brian picture, it was showing at the Rivoli Cinema in Aigburth, which was an area not too far from the Dingle Oil Jetties; in the danger zone! We were 14 years old and almost oblivious of danger, we decided to take a chance. We set out, it was a long walk to the tram stop, we were about half way when the sirens sounded, we kept going. We boarded the tram, at that stage of the war the trams kept going until things got really bad. we reached the cinema just as the ack-ack batteries at Tramway Road opened fire, the noise was deafening.
The film was about a famous American football coach whose name was Knute Rockne who managed the famous Notre Dame football team. We didn't know anything about American football, but we got caught up in the spirit of the story.
We could hear and feel the awesome explosions of bombs, the vibrations shuddered through the building. The ack-ack blasted back their reply, the whole place rocked on its foundations, the screen flickered and the crowds roared.
When the picture eventually finished, we had the choice of staying in the cinema, or of walking home, we decided to walk. As we made our way back home, now and again we could hear the sound of shrapnel from the ack-ack guns raining down, clinking and clattering on the roadway and off the roof tops. we kept going, after about half an hour we seemed to get clear of immediate danger but with one thing and another it had been quite a night.

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