大象传媒

I was born in the East End of London and was evacuated to Somerset with my two brothers and a sister when I was "three and a fortnight". We went off from Paddington station to Ilminster and then on to a small village on a branch line called Ilton. We were billeted by a process of selection, and although we wanted to stay together, my eldest brother went to a farmer, my sister went to another family, and my brother and I were the last two children left, so we were put with a middle aged spinster who lived in an alms house.

The Alms houses consisted of a row of eight in a terrace, each with one living room and one bedroom, which we all shared. The walls between them were made of planks of wood complete with knot holes, which we could peek through into next door, until they were filled in with strips of rag. The beams overhead were open and mice used to run along them, and also nibble the bread in the cupboard when they could get access to it. They had thatched roofs too, which looked beautiful but did occasionally get infested with fleas.

Money was short, but we were happy and we used to walk the three miles into Ilminster to get our shopping and collect firewood as we went. I attended the local school and I came back to Bethnal Green in 1945. I went back to Somerset to stay with my "aunt" every summer holiday until I was 13, when the local vicar deemed it unseemly for an unmarried woman to be sleeping in the same house as a young male adult. Sadly, my aunt had a nervous breakdown when I was sent home and had to go into an old persons home. I kept in touch with her until her death, and my wife and I went to visit her whenever we could.

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