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This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Radio Suffolk on behalf of Elsie Ghyn and has been added to the site with her permission. She understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was working in Deptford in a drapery store. I really did not like all the bombing and air raids that were going on overhead. My father, who was an air raid warden, would take us into the library to shelter from them. Then we had a shelter in the garden — I remember going into this carrying our animals in boxes. My mother was working in the town hall in New Cross. My brother was evacuated during the early years of the war but I remained in London. I remember one day when the sirens went off one morning very early. That day I was very reluctant to leave my bed but I was ordered into the shelter. And it was a very good thing that I went! After the all clear it was discovered that some shrapnel had gone through the window and into the wall above my bed and had caused a great deal of damage in my bedroom.

After this my family wanted me to go to Clare in Suffolk to stay with my cousin who had married the newsagent. I found Clare very strange after London and a lot quieter. Instead of going into a shelter in the garden we would just go under the stairs. I found work in the Post Office which was very busy and interesting. At first I was very homesick but I stayed and still live there to this day. Clare is a small country town and often lambs filled the streets as they passed through from one farm to another. However, at times, tanks also used to drive through the town. Sometimes my friends and I would go and sit on the river bank and watch the tanks training, passing across the river from one side to another,

At one time my grandmother came from London to live in Clare but she was not happy and soon went home again!

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