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I was eight when war broke out, I remember listening to Mr.Churchill talking on the wireless and Mr. Chamberlain’s declaration of war. I was proud of my dad because later on I appreciated the fact that he was in the A.F.S ( The Auxiliary Fire Service ) and also a full time coal miner. Both occupations were important to the Nations War Effort. In saving life and property and providing valuable mineral resources. When Birmingham Blitz was on, we could see this happening. The sky was flaring and bright, my dad went to attend the H.P. sauce factory that was ablaze. Ironically enough this was situated in Saltby, just left of the famous spaghetti junction, (spaghetti and sauce). I remember evacuees arriving at Swadlingcote Railway station. We stood on the bridge watching them arrive. We were also allocated a mother and her son to look after. From our house, we could see the Barrage Balloons at Derby. The German planes who were looking for Rolls Royce factory at Derby, had easily recognised engine sounds, different from the British planes. We learned to dread their drone-drone-drone.
When sirens sounded we had to go into the pantry ( pantry was a food larder). We used to have a bed under the concrete cooling shelf, this was used to keep the perishable foods cool, ( no fridge then) . We used to huddle as far under this shelf as possible.
Because of the shortage of school resources and places, we had to alternate attending school with the evacuees. We would go to school one week, then they would go the next.
One night a land mine dropped on Wraggs Pipeworks, the crater was bigger than a house. One of the rail — trucks was blown into the air to land yards away. This area unfortunately for us, was a well known Jettison Area for German Ordinance that could not be dropped on Birmingham and elsewhere. Another night a bomb dropped on a house in Baker Street. Demolishing several houses, killing many people.
When sirens went while we were at school, we had to go into specially prepared shelters in the ground, under the grass school grounds. Some shelters I remember, were built on the streets.

‘This story was submitted to the Peoples war site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Geoff Arnold and has been added to the site with his permission.. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions’

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