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As I was only 3 yrs old when the war started, the following notes include my memories from 3-10 yrs old.

I lived with my parents on a new housing estate (cost of house £320), in Kingstanding, a suburb of Birmingham; I was not evacuated, as I was too young. My father worked for Kynochs, (which became ICI), at Witton, Birmingham. He was a foreman in the Rod Mill and spent his war years, working 60-80 hrs a week, retrieving metal for re-use. He also joined the Auxiliary Fire Service and undertook the task of Fire Warden.

I remember particularly the following events:

Our air raid shelter. This was a superb facility. Warm and comfortable, with bunk beds, books, toys, food and a radio, our shelter being linked by a stable door with our next door neighbours. Another neighbour’s shelter flooded regularly and my mother often retrieved them and dried them out!

- My father in uniform with what appeared to me to be a huge axe, which I could not lift.
- Friday mornings when my father brought home an artificial cream bun, which he saved, for me, as Thursday night they were available in the canteen, to those on Fire-Watch.
- My uncle Fred, another Auxiliary Fireman, silhouetted against the skyline, as he tried to put out a fire, when the local greengrocery was hit (the store is still there to this day).
- Running home from school and overhearing that for those with ‘blue ration books’ there were bananas!
- My mother and I both contracted Scarlet Fever and in consequence we were admitted to Little Bromwich Hospital (Yardley, Birmingham) for 6 wks. During this time, whenever there was an air raid, we would either sleep under the bed or would be covered by a sheet. Nurses would remove this sheet in the morning; each one holding a corner of the sheet to ensure the glass from the broken windows was removed without anyone being hurt.
- In hospital and after lunch, Swedes and parsnips---ugh! The children would be given a saucer with segments of fruit, usually apple, pear or orange and 2 sweets!
- In 1944, my mother had my twin brothers at the Women’s Hospital, Birmingham. She became very ill and was transferred to Blackwell, a small hospital near Bromsgrove in Worcester, for a month. I only saw her once during this time when my father took me by train.
- My mother’s weakness was due to lack of blood for a transfusion; the majority of blood available was used for those providing essential services and the armed forces.
- The extra milk we received, when the twins returned home, made a great deal of difference to our diet, although I always found powdered egg and powdered potato (POM) quite acceptable.
- My father’s parents lived in Rotherham, Yorks. And I still remember a coach we were travelling on being strafed by a German plane.
- Returning from Rotherham, we came through Coventry the day after the city’s worst blitz. I remember seeing people queuing for what my mother explained, was a solitary remaining toilet.
- Finally, the only time I was afraid was one day at school when one of our teachers panicked, otherwise I knew no fear.

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