大象传媒

A TRUE WARTIME STORY

In 1936 my family consisting of mum, dad, Harold, Eric, Phyllis, Beryl and myself (Laurence) moved to a place called Brindley Village (No.9) which was in the middle of Cannock Chase. The buildings were made of wood and asbestos sheets. It was formally a military hospital in the First World War. Just as war was declared my eldest brother had joined the Navy and Eric was in a trade that was exempt from the Forces. That left mum and dad, 2 sisters and me when the Germans started to bomb places such as Birmingham and Coventry. My dad dug the earth from the foundations of our bungalow (a hut really!). He worked really hard and when he had got enough earth out he made some bunk beds and a cupboard which he stocked with food from the rations in case we were stuck in there for a while. Every time the sirens went, we all had to go into the shelter until the all-clear sounded. Across the road from our place Mr Mabbly would get onto the roof of his hut and would shout 鈥淭hat bomb dropped on Brum/Coventry!鈥� as you hear the explosions from time to time. My dad used to say 鈥渟illy B!!鈥�. Mr M would also tell us that the planes droning overhead were Junkers or Hienkel German bombers. He spent more time on the roof at night when there was an air raid than he was on the ground. It was a bit of a joke among the grown ups, but he did no harm. As I grew older I realised that dad was just thinking about our safety as he had survived in the first world war and knew what damage the bombs could do, but on reflection the shelter under the floor was jot very bomb proof as the concrete wall was only 9鈥� thick but dad was pleased with his handy work and we all survived and have a lot of wonderful memories of our years in the village in the woods with a community spirit that was second to none.

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