大象传媒

I was almost seven years old when the war was declared, a day I remember very clearly. We lived in a village called Letcombe Regis, which is about two miles from Wantage, in those days in the county of Berkshire. My Father the dog and me were on our usual sunday morning walk, the church clock was striking 11 0'clock. We met a man in the village and he said to my Father "well thats it Bill, the war has started. During the following weeks we were issued with gas masks and every week at school we had gas mask practice which I hated. Sometime during the beginning of 1940, freezing cold and heavy snow falling, the evacuee's arrived. We had schools from Dagenham and Kent complete with there teachers. The school was divided with some classes being held in the village hall. Many of the men from the village were called up into the armed forces, or directed to work at Number 3 Maintenance RAF Depot at Milton or to the Army Ordanance Depot at Didcot. My Father was directed to Milton depot. At that time our house went with my Fathers job so we had to move. This was a difficult time for us, but fortunately Mr Earnest Piggott (Grandfather to the jockey Lester Piggott) let us rent one of his cottages. Just after we moved into this cottage, a family from Dagenham moved next door to us and we soon became good friends. They were Mr and Mrs Brett, their daughters Irene and Nancy and their son George. At this time in the village we had ten horse racing stables, some quite large, these were taken over by the army and were soon filled with soldiers. I don't remember what happened to the horses. All through the war, the Headmistress from our school, with the help of Mrs Brett and my Mother, organised dances twice a week for the troops and they ran a canteen on the other evenings. In 1943 we were woken from our beds, the stables near to our cottage were on fire. It was well alight, the whole block of stables were destroyed, but fortunately no one was injured. The blaze lit up the sky and there were German planes overhead. Later on that year we had the American soldiers move in to the stables, the British soldiers being sent overseas. The Americans built an airfield at Grove, which was another small village, the opposite side of Wantage from Letcombe Regis. They built lots of huts for their men also a church which doubled up as a dance hall. In our village there was a large estate that belonged to Captain Whitelaw, the house was made into a military hospital. Some of the children from school would go and talk to the patients. At Christmas we would go round the wards singing carols and acting short plays, also taking small gifts which we had made. We usually came away with some sweets which were much appreciated. Just outside the village on the Ridgeway was a prisoner of war camp. Many of the prisoners worked on the local farms. In 1944 my Father was called up into the RAF, sent to Blackpool and trained ready to go abroad. At sometime during the war we had two airmen billeted on us from Membury Radio Station. This is now Membury Service Station on the M4 Motorway.
I remember Freddie Fox the famouse pre-war jockey being accidently killed. He drove his sports car under an army lorry. On the day of his funeral we had to form a guard of honour when the hearse passed by. The evacuees were all going home, our friendship with the Brett family continued with regular visits to Dagenham, but as time passed, we got married and only exchanged christmas cards but five years ago I made contact with Nancy and we exchanged visits. We phone one another every fortnight to keep in touch. One of the teachers that came from Dagenham formed a Girl Guide Company. I remember one night we were in the woods, when a German plane flew over us on fire, it crashed about a mile away. There were several plane crashes on the Ridgeway and on the Downs.
Other memories include potato picking which we got paid for and collecting Dog Rose Hips which I believe they made into jam.
At the end of the war we went into Wantage where they had a large bonfire. Mr Liddiard, who owned a music shop oppened his windows and played music for dancing in the town square.

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