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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Matthew Smaldon on behalf of Janet Hathaway and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs Hathaway fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

'My parents used to be the licensees The Lamb pub in Bladon, near Oxford. It was owned by Morrells brewery — at the moment it is boarded up, and is for sale.

I was born in Bladon in 1941. When I was little, my parents used to have a problem, as I would climb out of my cot, and stand on the windowsill over the front door of the pub. While my Mum ran the pub during the day, my Dad worked for Benfield and Loxley builders. One day he was working at the Morris car factory in Oxford, camouflaging the buildings. He came home that day with a solution to the problem — he had brought some camouflage netting that they put over the cot to keep me in.

My Mum used to say that when she leant against the back counter of the pub, she could feel the vibration from all the bombers flying over, on their way to bomb Coventry.

We lived near Blenheim Palace, and it was rumoured that Hitler would never bomb it as he wanted it as his home after the war. I don’t think it ever was bombed, even though there were troops based there — Canadians I think. We used to see the Land Army girls driving through the village, and I remember their lorry stopped outside the pub once. We also used to have the big vehicles, low loaders, used for transporting planes driving through the village. They were called Queen Marys.

We used to have airmen coming into the pub. I think they were probably based at the Kidlington airbase. I can remember two in particular, Bill and Ray. My sister became friendly with one of them, and they used to play one of the popular songs of the time on the piano in the backroom of the pub —‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’.

Not long after the end of the war, I was standing on the steps of the pub, when I saw two or three men coming down the street, carrying a big plywood box, going from house to house, knocking on doors. The box contained oranges, and they were giving all the children in the village one. I remember that we had a concert at Bladon Primary School to celebrate the end of the war - I had to sing Lilly Marlene.'

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