大象传媒

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An 8 year olds memory of being evacuated. No cases for me, not enough money for things like that so my gear was in a pillowslip. It was great for an 8 year old, my sister was to look after me so I just looked at everything I could and I think I slept a lot. Fleckney was good for me. To add to my sisters memories, there was a dog and if we gave him a penny he would go to the pub and come back with a biscuit in his mouth, not for me but for him! Mrs Smith was very kind to us and I remember the lavatory was at the bottom of the garden and was a hole in the soil. Mrs Smiths son had something to do with farming and the big thing in my life was getting a ride on the steam traction engine and going to the farm. The village shop and petrol station was owned by a man called Reeves so no relative.

Another big thing I remember was the Sunday dinner. We sat at the table and the plates of food was brought in but we didn't start eating as no Yorkshire pudding, in the country that came after. We did share a bit of school but played a lot of football. We never played a proper game, just ran after the ball so never won, just got tired! The school teacher that brought us from London was one of the St Jude teachers, and I don't know where he went after Mrs Smith took us in, but a few years later he came to the Bective school to teach. We met and he asked me what happened to me so we had a chat about it. When mother came to Fleckney to collect us, going to White Hills was great. A newish house with a bathroom and a back garden looking over the fields, one of which had a search light and, I think, a bren gun. And the open fields to roam in and the friends I made. I was playing with Colin pretending to box and he said "shall we really have a fight?" So I said, "what's that" and he punched me on the eye!! That sort of thing happenend quite a bit, some of it funny, some not!! We were called foreigners and natives by others!

The war had started and London was bombed, people coming out of the air raid shelters and their homes were no longer there. Can you imagine that? Nothing left and nowhere to go. We had Uncle Chris still in London and the people asked him what can they do and he said try my brother up in Northampton and over the months we took them in until they found a place. We slept on the sofa, the floor and Dad and I in a small cotton tent in the garden, now, what a treat for an 8 year old. From then on I was and still am a camper, love tents and the open air. Boughton school was great but a bit too much for the lady teacher, not enough room, not enough pencils, paper etc and too much noise. I got a clip round the ear for talking! That I remember!

Because of the fear of gas bombs, we always carried our gas masks in our little cardboard box and in case things got so bad with bombs and gas we had to have a supply of food, in case we couldn't go home. So we had a biscuit tin with biscuits in it, bread, chocolates, Weetabix, water and stuff. Again, what an adventure for us children. The best part was when the time was up, the food could be going stale so we opened them and had a feast. There was the time of the Dieppe raid and army trucks pulled up in front of the houses. Soldiers, British and Canadian started to unload their gear on the grass verge, mum came out with water and anything else she could spare. When the men said "do you mind us sleeping on the grass" she said "no you bloody don't, you come on in the house", the blokes laughed and said "the sergeant won't let us" mum said "where is the bloody sergeant? I'll tell him where to go". Do you know, I was so proud of mum. But luckily the sergeant didn't turn up, well, not when I was there because it was way past my bed time. I can't remember how long they stayed and I didn't know about Dieppe until I was older. Very sad, they were the blokes that slept on our grass.

We had air raid wardens going round at night saying "put those lights out" and they had a whistle to blow. So we kids used to go round calling "PUT THOSE LIGHTS OUT", some times we had to run fast to get away from adults! We had 'Dig for Victory' and children were encouraged to dig and plant and we had help from people. I don't think we lasted long, too much like hard work. But I did get jobs, butchers boy delivering meats to people, also baby sitting, pony-clearing up and combing him, clearing out the chicken shed-what a smell! We did go spud picking when we went to senior school and got away from school for days and got half crown a day, or was it a week? It was good when spud picking was in the field behind our house for many reasons, one was I got a job there at weekends helping out doing all sorts, gleaning for pig spuds, celery cleaning with boys from the gang. Beetroot was good, hot water to put your hands in. Now I didn't like beetroot but my mates did and scoffed a few-the funny part-when we had a break and went behind the shed to have a pee, they were all frightened out of their heads, they thought they were peeing blood!!

We watched Coventry burning. My Dad used to go there and always came home with wood for the fire. My Dad was one of the most honest men ever. I heard him tell Mum that some men took home things belonging to the owners of the bombed buildings. I thought that wicked and still do.

There is so much more way back in our minds, the above is only some of it. Ah! The one time, walking home from Boughton School, got to cross roads on the Harborough Road when I saw a 'Dog Fight' (means two planes shooting at each other) they were way up in the sky and I think we could hear the guns. We stood watching them, cheering the (what we thought) Spitfire. Then a thought came to our minds, where do the bullets end up? They could come down to earth and could fall on us, so we jumped into the ditch which happened to be the over flow from the sesspit from the houses up the road. Good job they were dry. We got to White Hills Way and split up, I walked up the street and Mum was coming down to meet me telling me what she was going to do to me in no uncertain words. What she was going to do to me because the sirens had gone off ages ago and she was worried sick, and where had I been, and what she was going to do with me again and again. But it was good to see a 'Dog Fight'.

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