大象传媒

This story appears courtesy of and with thanks to The Liverpool Diocesan Care and Repair Association and James Taylor.

I had a row with my husband one night when it was very bad. He was always out of a night, he was good though, he鈥檇 go around putting the fires out and that, but I used to go mad because I was on my own with the kids. One night it was very bad, it was the last night of the Blitz. You couldn鈥檛 go to bed and everyone had scabbies, you couldn鈥檛 get washed, you couldn鈥檛 do anything. This night the sirens had gone and I said, 鈥� You鈥檙e not going again tonight John.鈥� I said, you haven鈥檛 got a chance out there.鈥� If I didn鈥檛 have the kids I would have been out there myself, because I joined the fire service when the kids were away. Anyway we had this big row and he said, 鈥� Blow you, I bloody well hope you get bombed.鈥� Well, honest to God, them words I鈥檒l never forget. I said to myself, 鈥淩ight I won鈥檛 be here tomorrow,鈥� he didn鈥檛 mean it, but I was harsh and most of it was my fault. I went down to the school in Mount Pleasant because the mothers could be evacuated if they wished and I asked them to evacuate me. They asked me if I had anywhere to go, well I didn鈥檛, I had a letter that was two years old telling me that if it ever got bad in Liverpool that I was welcome there. This letter was from the women who had our Esther living there, but it was sent two years ago. When you made out the application to be evacuated they wanted to know if you had anyone to stay with, otherwise you couldn鈥檛 go. So I told them about this letter and they said to bring it to them as proof. Well, when I found it, it had a date on it saying 1939. I burned the date off and took it to show this man. I told him it was written a few months ago and he said, 鈥淎re you sure?鈥� 鈥淥oh yes,鈥� I said. Well, my eldest daughter then was fourteen and he couldn鈥檛 give me a voucher for her because she was a teenager. He gave vouchers for me and Kathleen, she was eleven, John was nearly five, Chris was two and the baby. I wanted one for Margaret, my oldest, but I couldn鈥檛 get one and I didn鈥檛 have the train fare to pay for her. Well, I came home, I collected all my rations and started packing all the clothes and everything. The next morning I gave them all their breakfast and got them all ready. When I was going I shouted up to my husband, he was still in bed, I said, 鈥淚鈥檓 going now.鈥� He said, 鈥淲here are you going, where are you going.鈥� I said, 鈥淎way, I鈥檓 going away,鈥� and I hurried the kids out of the door. When I was going down Myrtle Street I saw St. Luke鈥檚 burning. The Palais De Lux and Blackers were all smouldering. When I got round to the station, all Lime Street was blocked. I had to go up Skelhorne Street and around the back. Eventually I got on the train and we set off. I was worried because I wasn鈥檛 sure if this women would put me up. I had to change at Rock Ferry to another train, then we had to change trains again and I remember waiting at this station. I was talking to this woman and she gave the kids a cup of cocoa. I was crying because I was worried about everything. The kids were asleep on the forms beside me and I had to really shake them to wake them up for the next train. When I think about it now, the poor kids. Anyway we arrived at this little village and it was a place where everyone new one another. When I got there this lady, Mrs Owens, said, 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry, I really am sorry.鈥� She only had a small house and she was already overcrowded. She made us welcome and made us a nice meal, and then she went round the village asking people if they could put me up, but in the end I had to go to a place called Valley, it鈥檚 a big Aerodrome in Anglesey. It was only small in those days, just starting off. They took me there in the night to a little institution and I undressed the kids and bathed them. When I bathed them they screamed because they had never been in a proper bath. We only had the tin bath at home, you know. This institution was a hospital, and there were navy fellows in at the time. Anyway, the next morning we all had our breakfast brought to us and it was lovely. I was there for a week and then they moved me to a cottage. It was a condemned cottage but they opened it up and made it all nice for us. They furnished it as well. There was a big full-size bed and three small size beds and they gave me a couch and two easy chairs and everything. It was the people in the village that furnished it and I was like the Queen, you鈥檇 swear I was the Queen!
My husband was sending me money, by this time he knew where I was, but I had to write and ask him first. I was there for about a year, I had the new baby then and the kids all went to school there. Margaret had to come down from Liverpool and joined me at the cottage.

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