大象传媒

As a child during the War i lived in Walthamstow, East London with my parents, George Wittamore and Marie Wittamore. In East London we suffered air raids all the time, we were never bombed out but we had our windows and doors blown in a few times. We were lucky that my Dad was good at D.I.Y and he could make repairs very quickly. There was a system where you made a claim for damages and have the council do the repairs but that took a long time.

There was also the Blackout, that meant covering the windows with black paper; no lights in the streets and vehicles had special lamps fitted that only gave a downward dim light. We also stuck strips of paper in a crisscross pattern on the windows so they wouldn't shatter so easily and cause injury. If you went out after dark, you had to feel your way along hedges and garden walls to guide you.

We had an air raid shelter in the garden. We were not asked if we wanted one, it just arrived one day with workmen, who dug a large hole at the end of the garden and erected it. Dad painted it and it had bunk beds on both sides, allowing four people to sleep in it. Just as Dad had finished painting it and put a small amount of furniture in it, workmen came and cemented the floor. Dad was not amused! There was no ventilation; only a small amount came through cracks in the door. It was always damp and had condensation running down the walls. There was also many spiders and other wrigglies.

I spent alot of time in the air raid shelters, both at home and at school. We all slept in the shelter at night for many weeks, which was very uncomfortable, but being a child, not much kept me awake!

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