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This contribution to People’s War was received by the Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Norfolk and submitted to the website with the permission and on behalf of Iris Corder and her family.
My name is Iris, I was born April 1939. My dad was away most of the time, in the army RASC. Mum and I lived in London. In 1940 we moved back to Lincoln, near Hartsholm Hall, near to his barracks. I only remember the bits and pieces,. Mum used to cut down her clothes to fit me. She sometimes used parachute silk for my clothes. She would put the cream of milk in a preserve jar. We had to shake the jar for hours on end, until the cream turned into butter. She also made ice cream, and because she didn’t have a fridge to freeze it, she would put the bowl out in the snow.

My uncle Ted used to make my brother and me toys, like rocking horses. When I went to school I had to take a small box with my gas mask in it. When the ´óÏó´«Ã½ news came on the radio, we had to sit quietly so that mum and the adults could listen.

The air raid siren frightened us; we were always pleased to hear the all-clear. I went to sleep at night to the sound of the Lancaster’s and the other bombers. Even today, when I hear a Lancaster it takes me back to being in my bad. I woke to the same sounds. When I stayed at my nans’ house in London, we played in the Anderson shelter in her garden. I only remember going in there during one raid. I saw two planes fighting in the sky and a parachute came down to earth. I was too far away to see if it landed safely.

Back in Lincoln there was a great parade as the airborne soldiers marched towards Lincoln. My brother and I think they went to Arnham. Later there was a camp with Italian prisoners, we used to go and watch them. After that Hartsholm Hall was taken over by homeless families. It’s difficult to say exactly when these events took place. I remember crying at a party, because I didn’t know the words to the songs. We went to a great bonfire and fireworks evening. I had never seen anything like this before.

We hear about the servicemen and women and lots of others. The people who get a mention are the mums who gave theirs, and in some case other people’s children, a good loving life in spite of the war. I was just six years old on VE day.

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