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This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Jordan and Frank, pupils from Teversham Primary School on behalf of Christine Buttress and has been added to the site with her permission, and she fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was born in 1939. My mother died when I was 3. I was bought up in a
Children’s Home. I can remember the sirens every night. We got into the air raid shelter in the garden. There were 20 of us (all girls!)
and to keep us occupied, we would sing ‘1 finger 1 thumb keep moving’
(it happened every night!). One night we were waiting to go in to the shelter when we heard a doodle bug. The noise stopped and suddenly there was a terrific bang and the next thing we knew, all the windows were completely shattered but we weren’t alarmed. I also remember wearing a gas mask and it made me think I don’t like the gas mask wearing. When we were at school we had an hour’s sleep every lunch time! I also remember the ration books - we took them with us if we went to the sweet shop. After the war, when the siren started to sound because there was a fire, I use to grab my clothes and run to the air-raid shelter. It’s stuck in my mind.

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