大象传媒

During the summer of 1940, a German bomber came flying over our back garden machine gunning people. It was a sunny afternoon and my sister and I were playing in the garden. My father must have seen or heard the bomber coming. He picked the pair of us up, ran back to the kitchen and threw both of us under the kitchen table.

Then in March 1941, a German a bomb completely destroyed our home in Luckington Rd, Horfield, Bristol. My 40 year old father had just finished a 12 hour shift at the BAC (as it ws known then, now known as British Aerospace). He was killed as well as my 14 year old brother Trevor. My brother had been fire watching in our front porch along with our neighbour, Fred Stant, who was also killed. Fred鈥檚 wife had died giving birth to their baby who was in the Anderson shelter with its grandmother, my 3 year old sister Maureen, myself aged 8 and my mother.

The only things salvaged from our home were some books and photographs. Our garden shed contained some tools and a mangle but even these were stolen by looters.

Food and clothing was rationed, there were no health or social services. We stayed with various friends. My sister did not speak for quite a while after it happened. The doctors said the shock may have caused her to develop cancer. Then when my sister became too ill with the cancer, as a young boy aged 10 or 11 years, I was sent away to work. I was paid 1 shilling and 5 pence an hour to work in Exmouth. There I had to wash up three times a day for 16 children. These children were evacuees but I was not.
My mother nursed my sister for about a year until she died, aged 3 years and 11 months.

My mother received 拢2 and 1 shilling a week to pay for everything. Food and clothes were rationed so she had to work until she retired. When my mother asked for some financial help from the British Legion she was told that it was only for service men and women. I have the greatest admiration for those who gave their lives in the war but I do not buy poppies. All we had was what we stood up in and a small amount of money my father had the foresight to put into the shelter.

My grandmother used to hate the sirens, she used to call them syringes. When they sounded she sat under the stairs with a large cushion on her head, surmounted by a huge enamel bowl. My aunt in Coventry had a nervous breakdown due to the bombing and ended up in a mental institution.

My mother had enormous courage, as great as any soldier, and a faith that helped her to pull through. Then at the age of 94 years she died of cancer, having never re-married.

Another Story - My School Life 1942-

Between the ages of 8 and 10 years old I had very little schooling. This was due to the bombing of schools and raids damaging the roads causing many children to suffer this disruption. The raids at night kept you awake. During the winter months it was dark by 4 or 5 o鈥檆lock. The Germans would come over and drop bombs and have to be back over the coast before dawn, otherwise our fighters would get them. It also meant that the disruption to the docks and transport systems like the railways meant that there was further shortages of important goods and commodities for people. This often meant that there was no coal for heating the schools. Myself and other children would wear our coats and sit until we were dismissed or fell asleep.

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