大象传媒

Funny how I can鈥檛 stop thinking back to the years when I was a kid. I suppose it鈥檚 a sign of getting old. I always seem to remember things way back and forget what happened yesterday.
Also a lot happened when I was young and Mum was there then, you see it was the years through the war. I was born in 1934 so I was only five when the war broke out in 1939. Mum was only a little woman, 4鈥� 11鈥� and 7 stone nothing.
Dad was called up for the army, so Mum was left at home with my sister Marion and me. But then my sister Rene came along born 1939. I think she was a goodbye gift for Mum from Dad.
I don鈥檛 remember much at that age, just going to school and having to have a little sleep on camp beds during play time and a bottle of milk.
The next thing I remember about that age is being evacuated.
I can remember the train ride and being given a dry biscuit, looked more like a dog鈥檚 biscuit.
The next thing was queuing up for rations, each family were given a bag of things like tinned milk and other things, I don鈥檛 know what. But while Mum was queuing we went to see what this rushing noise was, my sister and me. We came up against barbed wire great big loops of it and then we saw it. It was the sea, we were at Worthing. I don鈥檛 remember seeing it before.
The next thing we were in bed in some lady鈥檚 house. I remember Mum putting Rene to bed in a draw from the chest and that鈥檚 it for Worthing. The next thing we were back again at home. Then we knew what the war was all about. I don鈥檛 know why Mum brought us home. We lived in a tiny house, one living room really, outside loo and two bedrooms. We had a tiny yard for the garden.
So we didn鈥檛 have enough room for an air raid shelter which people had put in their gardens or one in their front rooms but ours wasn鈥檛 big enough for that. At first when there was a raid we would have to get up in the night and go under the stairs in the cupboard. Mum had put a mattress in there and we all had to cram ourselves in. I can remember now the candle balancing on the ledge of the stairs.
We used to listen for the bombs coming over it was the doodle bug, the one with its bum alight. They used to say it was alright while it was still going it was when the noise stopped we would listen for where it would drop. If it was near all the windows would be blown out. I think we had more wood and cardboard windows than glass.
When it got bad we would sometimes go over the road to neighbours or up the street to Mrs Sams. Funny I always remember Mrs. Sams. She was Mum鈥檚 friend. She always used to pop in and see us, always used to wipe up for Mum, as Mum always washed the dishes and left them to drain and Mrs. Sams couldn鈥檛 stand it, she鈥檇 have to wipe them up. They had shelters you see.
Funny after a raid we would all go out the street looking for shrapnel pieces off the bombs. I had a big tin of it, don鈥檛 know what happened to it, haven鈥檛 any now.
Then it started to get worse and we had to go to the church for shelter as we had to spend the nights there in the crypt under the church.
It was like being in a tomb all that cold stone there looked like bunk beds I think they had taken the coffins off the shelves for us.
We would start out every evening Mum pushing Rene in the pram loaded up with blankets and pillows. It was about a one-and-a-half mile journey there and the siren often used to go to warn of an air raid and we used to nip into road shelters on the way or people would let you come in their shelter if you were not within sight of one. Everyone was very friendly and kind then. You all seemed to look out for one another.
While in the crypt at night people used to be brought in who had been bombed out. I can still see them now a little girl saying the ceiling had fallen on her, covered in blood. Mum saying go back to sleep, there鈥檚 nothing to worry about.
Before you knew it it was morning, just over the road was a caf茅 and Marion and I used to take a jug that Mum had brought and go over the caf茅 for a jug of tea. I think if Mum had the money we would have toast as well, or they would be passing the dog biscuits round again still they tasted good when we were hungry.
Anyway it all got too much for us all and we had to be evacuated again. This time we had a coach pick us up from our street and take us to the station. Mum鈥檚 friend down the street came too. I think her name was Mrs. Crowley anyway she was Aunty Kath to us she had a daughter named Kathleen and a son Jimmy. We were all labelled up with our name tags and gas masks over our shoulder. We all boarded the train but nobody told us where we were going. And once again round came the dog biscuits and drink. Our Mums had worked it out where we were going when we were nearly there. They were all moaning because it was Manchester. They said it rains all the time there. They were hoping for a warmer part of the country like Devon or Exeter.
Well we arrived and I remember being taken to a church hall where there were camp beds all over the floors. The next day people came around looking at families and choosing who they wanted to lodge with them. Now Mum and her friend Kath didn鈥檛 want to be parted so they made out they were sisters so they could stay together. The only trouble was there were seven of us then so of course we were left to last because nobody wanted us lot. Anyway the next day a lady and her husband came and said they had 2 spare rooms and would take us all. Her name was Mrs. Moore. She had a nice three bedroom house. They were quite an elderly couple. We were given one room each family I can only remember four camp beds in the room most of our clothes were kept in suitcases.
It was quite a nice spot, there were fields not far off. Mum and Kath would take us kids for picnics, we would have a little camping stove to make the tea but one time I can remember us all running like mad when a cow poked its head through a bush behind us. Being city people I don鈥檛 think we had seen a cow before we went there. I remember spending nearly a day chasing one to get hair from its tail to put around a wart I had on my finger. It was meant to be a horse鈥檚 hair but we couldn鈥檛 catch that either.
Also not far from where we lived were the coal slag heaps. We used to get a bit of board or cardboard and slide down them on it. We thought it was great fun but you should have seen the colour of us, we were always getting told off. We had a lot of friends there. I think they liked us because we spoke funny so they said. We thought they spoke funny as well.
Saturday was a big day out we would all get the bus into Preston, a big town nearby. We would come back with something nice for tea and a real cream cake, Mum and Kath would buy one each a round sponge with cream and jam and we would all get a slice each this was the highlight of the week. Mr and Mrs Moore would have their meals before us then Mum and Kath would have the kitchen to themselves.
Anyway I cannot remember how long we were there but I think we must have been a bit too much for them. The next thing we were given a flat in a house we had the top and someone else the bottom. It was about half an hour鈥檚 walk I think from where we were. Anyway one day we packed our cases and set off to find our new house. We couldn鈥檛 afford transport so we were walking all carrying something when along came a rag and bone man with his horse and cart and offered us a lift. Mum and Kath put us kids on and the luggage and they walked behind. I can see them now both holding arms and singing 鈥渕y old man said follow the van and don鈥檛 dilly dally on the way鈥�. We all had a good laugh.
The house was OK we had a room per family again but we had a kitchen and bathroom which led off from the kitchen. The kitchen had a black lead stove which kept us all nice and warm and they could cook on it too. But I鈥檓 afraid we never got to use the bath as we had to keep the coal in it.
The family downstairs had a little girl one day she got really ill. They had a doctor come and look at her and she had scarlet fever anyway they quarantined us off. They put a cross on the door and nobody was allowed in or out. Food parcels were left on the step. I don鈥檛 remember how long that went on for I think we must have been in Manchester for a year and a half or two years. It was coming to the end of the war now so we all headed back home. We were going to stay at my Aunt Alma鈥檚 place as when we were in Manchester we had a telegram telling us our house had been bombed. So it wasn鈥檛 much fun coming home as we had nothing, all our toys gone.
We stayed a while with Aunt Alma and Mum was looking for a rented house. We would walk round the streets looking for signs up saying 鈥榯o rent鈥�. The sky was full of big barrage balloons, they were not in the sky when we went to Manchester. They stay in my mind. When we first got off the train when we got back they were the first thing I noticed.
The milkman one day told Mum there was a house empty around the next street. Mum went and asked next door and the lady there gave her the address of the people who were living there before they were evacuated to Blackpool if my memory serves me right. Anyway to cut a long story short we got the key and moved into the upstairs flat. The place had been empty quite a while and needed a lot of cleaning but it was lovely to have our own place. Dad came home on leave and Marion and I waited all day at Gipsy Hill station for him. We had made a big sign saying 鈥榃elcome Home Dad鈥� and hung it over the front door. He didn鈥檛 seem to be home long when he was gone again. But it was soon the end of the war and he was coming home again.
One day we had a letter asking what we were doing living in the house and not paying any rent. Mum had been sending the money to the lady in Blackpool who said it was her house.
Anyway Dad went up to London to see the landlord and explain what was going on. He came back all smiles and said the landlord had signed the house over to us and the lady wouldn鈥檛 be coming back. He had the keys to downstairs rooms. We had the whole house to ourselves Mum and Dad were over the moon. We had loads of cleaning to do, it was really bad but us kids were scrubbing the floorboards. Dad varnished most of the rooms as we didn鈥檛 have the money for lino.
Dad was demobbed from the army now and Mum was expecting our little sister Pauline born at the end of the war in 1945. Pauline was born at Aunty Alma鈥檚 house while Dad looked after us. Next thing to look forward to was the street party to celebrate the end of the war.

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