大象传媒

I was born in 1936, so I was only three when the war started. Firstly my dad was in the ARP and the Homeguard, but when they were asked to volunteer, (he would be 34 then) he volunteered because they could choose what they would do, and he joined the Intelligence Corps and was posted to Maryport in Cumberland. One of my first memories was building the air raid shelter in the garden, we were to share it with out next door neighbours, the men dug and dug and dug, and the children took the soil up in buckets, I have no idea what they did with all the soil, we could not afford an Anderson shelter, so a roof was put on of wood, and the shelter lined, unfortunately this was unsafe, and in the end we had to share next doors Anderson shelter. We lived in Sale in Cheshire, just 7 miles away from Manchester.

We lived close to Carrington Moss (Where Manchester United have their training facility now)
On this was a searchlight. I remember when the German bombers came over, us children knew the difference in the sound, then the siren at the top of our road would go, deafening, I would then stand up on my bed, wait for my mum to come in, put on my siren suit and then down to the shelter, I can still remember the noise of the bombing in the distance, and the musty smell of the air raid shelter.

One night, before my dad joined up, he took me to our little back porch of the house, Valerie, he said, I want you to look at the sky, you will never forget this. The Manchester blitz was on, the sky was bright red as far as you could see, I can still see it now. The next morning, Baxendales (a large Company in Manchester) invoices were strewn across our lawn, and we used to regularly collect shrapnel which sometimes was still warm, from the garden.

I also remember going to school with my gas mask, and going into the school shelters, although not very often as the raids mostly came at night. Mum and Dad tried to make me wear a gas mask that looked like Goofy (a Disney Character) and I was terrified of it, so wore a normal one. I never had to wear it because of gas, thankfully.

We were told once that a German was on the run near our house, everyone was scared stiff, and watching Dad鈥檚 Army on the TV brought back quite a few memories of this. We were always on the look out for Germans!!

I got measles during the Blitz, so I could not go into the shelter due to a high temperature, so a bed was made for me underneath a very strong mahogany dining table, how strong was never tested!
Our windows shook, but never broke, and of course we lived in total darkness with blackout curtains at the windows. Strangely I never remember being frightened.

One day, towards the end of the war, all the neighbours got together and had a party, we had a bonfire in the road,(which was a concrete road!) and we burnt and effigy of ToJo the Japanese war minister I think, I had no idea what that was all about, I was 8 then.( I found out much later that he tried to commit suicide , he lived, but only to be found guilty of war crimes by the Allies and was hanged!) One of the chaps decided to light an incendiary bomb in the gutter, these burnt for hours on end, they spent a long time with buckets of water and a stirrup pump trying to put it out, funny how some of these things stick in your mind.

Another little memory of the war, our neighbours kept chickens, and we all got an egg from time to time, one day Mrs Lee who owned the chickens was in tears, what is the matter? We have just killed Blackie our cockerel and are having him for lunch, but nobody wanted to eat him!! I remember struggling on coupons, and doing without sweets, and I must say I think there are a lot of ninety plus year olds now who have benefited from no fat when they were young, not like today鈥檚 youngsters, maybe we should go back to rationing.

I remember Mum taking me to Maryport to see my Dad, before he was posted overseas, we got on a troop train to Carlisle, it was packed with soldiers and sailors and we could not move,also all the corridors were packed, and we were the only two females on the train I think. One gave me a silk scarf and some sweets. My dad went to Austria and I still have a German dress sword he brought back for me, together with some German badges off uniforms, as far as I can remember my mum told me that the Germans were burning a lot of stuff and the soldiers managed to get hold of some of the badges etc., I do wish I had asked more questions and listened more intently what my Dad got up to, but sadly a divorce ensued following the war, and so I did not see as much of my Dad as I would have liked to, twice a year it was in those days, birthdays and Christmas. Very very sad when some Dads never came back at all. This concludes my memories of the war at home.

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