大象传媒

I was 8 years old when my Gran died in 1941,a year later my Dad died leaving my Mam and I alone in a big Victorian house in Woodbine Place, Gateshead.
Conesquently Mam had a visit from the Billeting Officer who looked over the house and as there was only two of us living in a 5 bedroomed house, informed us that the next Monday 3 men would be coming to stay.
Mam wasn't too upset by this as she had had boarders before, since my Dad had been too ill to work,but she wasn't going to have any hastle."Look" she said"I'm a widow with a young son, so you had better not send any shady characters" "Don't worry Mrs Clark I am aware of the situation" he said.
A day or two later a man turned up with some army blankets and 3 pillows.
The three men eventually arrived, they were working in various factories, and were duly installed in two bedrooms. Two had to share a room because although there were 5 bedrooms, one was a lumber room full of junk.
After three days one of the men came home rolling drunk. Next morning my Mam said " You can stay till the end of the week, if you stay sober,then you are out!"She then informed the Billeting Officer that they needed to find another room for him.
One of the men called Stuart, an Irishman,stayed for about 2 years and became like one of the family-he married a girl from Glasgow,and at the end of the war Mam and I went to stay with them and we were in Glasgow for V.E.Day
All through the war we had people billeted on us,-a Mr Winter from Poland who came to work at Sowerby's Glass works. He sat at our dining table and designed a fruit set for Mam. Another chap from the Midlands came to run the Forth Goods Yard and a telephone was installed immediately because of his job. He only stayed a few months as the goods yard was bombed and he had nothing to run.
At one stage we had three young girls staying with us,two left within a few months, but one girl Lena Bruce stayed on till well after the war and was married from our house. She was like a big sister to me.
It all seems very strange now, to have people dumped on a household but, at the time, it was a normal occurence. We met some lovely people.I still think about them and often wonder what happened to them after they left us.

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