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During World War Two I was living in Newcastle Upon Tyne as I do now. I was only eleven years old when the war broke out. I can remember the Sunday morning that it was declared. At the time it was confusing as we weren鈥檛 sure what to expect. I knew something was happening but did not quite understand. I remember everyone gathering around the radio, waiting for the big announcement. Chamberlain, the prime minister at the time said 鈥渨e are now at war with Germany鈥�. At that moment the air raid sirens sounded. I was terrified; I thought the Germans were coming to bomb us already. The sirens were just being tested.
As a child during the war I was evacuated from the city. I stayed with my grandparents in the small mining village of Blucher. However the evacuation did not cause much disruption at all. The village was not far from the city. I had often visited my grandparents anyway and continued to see my parents regularly while I was in Blucher. I also did not have to change schools. I was at a private school at the time and it was close enough to remain there during the war.
During the war blackout regulations were put in place. There were to be no lights on and all the windows were covered with thick blackout curtains. This was exciting and did not bother me too much. The rationing worked well two. When it came to food and supplies the people of Blucher worked in a community, sharing and exchanging. As we were living in the countryside we grew our own vegetables and owned chicks, which we got eggs from. The people of the village also kept pigs. Any scraps of food were kept for the pigs, which were eventually killed, and the meat shared out. As well as this my farther owned a farm in Yorkshire which gained us more eggs. Also I do remember my farther being involved in the black market. This gained us a few extra supplies and was not particularly frowned upon. During the war I can vividly remember carrying my gas mask around. They were never actually used but for the drills and practises they were terribly uncomfortable to wear.
When I was 16 the war was coming to an end. I was back living in Newcastle with my parents. Unlike the plentiful supplies in the village, some things were hard to come by in the city. There were very long ques for things like silk, stockings and lipstick. As soon as anyone heard of more items coming in people would start queuing from the early hours of the morning. Later on however the Americans made things available. There were a lot in Newcastle. There was a NAAFI in Newcastle, which was a place for the American forces to go. The American NAAFIs were better than the British.
Eventually the war came to an end. It was wonderful news, everybody was happy, though many were sad for their losses. It was very exciting. There were lots of changes. People who had been away for years were returning, there were new jobs opening up too. During the war woman had been working in industry, however when the men returned they got their jobs back and the women were expected to go back to being house-wives. Many women felt they had lost some freedom and found this change hard to cope with. A lot of soldiers came back changed men. Many had seen horrific things and had traumatising experiences. They found returning home hard. This resulted in many marriage breakdowns. There was a lot of information about politics and of coarse the capital, London. I remember there were bands playing and marches in town. People would party in the street!
When I look back at these memories and look at war today, I believe it has never helped anything. War does not solve anything and nobody learns from it. However it will go on and on. I was overjoyed that the Germans were defeated, but I will always remember the cruelty of the Russians, the terrible things that happened to the Jews. It was not good news that the British had their own concentration camps in Africa too. Overall the war was a dreadful time, in which I had many new experiences.

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