大象传媒

A lad from Brierfield, from singing in the choir at St Lukes Church Brierfield, to winning a singing scholarship to sing with Canterbury Cathedral Choir at the start of the war.

The singing audition was in London during the blitz, I was successful, and returning to my overnight stop in Cirencester, the searchlights and guns were in action while travelling on the train. For a small boy it was all very exciting.

During the first term at Canterbury we were all evacuated to St Blazey inCornwall. This was in September as the D-Day landings were in June of that year. There was plenty of evidence of that event around.

Following our return to Canterbury, for the next few months we had to shelter with the doodle bugs and V2's passing over our heads each night, again ever so exciting, because we never really understood it all.

One early morning we were awakened by the very loud noise of aircraft over our heads, aircraft towing gliders for the Rhine Landings. They were so low in the sky we could see the soldiers waving at us. I wonder how many of those soldiers returned?

By contrast, on VE Day I was in Burnley Victoria Hospital having my appendix removed. But I still have many more memories of that time in me, it would take far to long to tell them all.

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