大象传媒

My parents were born and brought up in Blackburn and they worked in the cotton mills, my father as a Tackler and my mother as a weaver. During the slump they went to London to find work and whilst there married. I was born twelve months later.

I was six years old when war was declared and I well remember the day when my parents were listening to the wireless and it was announced that war had been declared. The sirens sounded and I cried. I suppose I must have absorbed the atmosphere and so knew that something of great importance was happening that wasn鈥檛 good. My dad was called up but was rejected on medical grounds because of a Duodenal Ulcer.

Mum and Dad worked in a mill in Southall called United Elastics and it turned over production to weaving khaki webbing etc. They worked round the clock shifts.

I鈥檓 not quite sure how long it was after that day in 1939 but I remember being brought up to Blackburn to stay with my mother鈥檚 sister and her plumber husband. I had to sleep with my cousin George who was five years older than me. I attended Intack Primary School and it was a very different experience from being at St Anselm鈥檚 Roman Catholic school being taught by Nuns. Luckily I was well ahead in the 3 R鈥檚 so could hold my own. The most upsetting things were being parted from my parents and being forced to wear boys鈥� boots (I don鈥檛 remember why).

After about six months my mother decided that the separation was unnecessary and I we were going to die we鈥檇 all die together. I was taken back to Southall.

I remember the air raid shelter at the bottom of our long garden path and my father in his uniform as an Air Raid Warden. He had to check that everybody鈥檚 black outs were closed and no lights were showing. The sirens would sound and off we would go down that path in the dark to our dug-out. It was complete with kerosene lamp and camp beds. Great Aunt Alice lived in the flat above ours but she would never go to the shelter. She stood at her window saying the rosary through every raid. My father was once blown off the toilet by the force of a bomb which landed too close for comfort. It was always with a huge sigh of relief that we heard the siren sound the 鈥淎ll Clear鈥� and we emerged from our shelters like rabbits out of burrows but never knowing what we would find or where the bombs had dropped. Always thanking God that we鈥檇 been spared.

There were huge water tanks with EWS on the side in various strategic places to aid the fire fighters I think.

I used to have a tin in which I kept the shrapnel that I picked up in our garden or on the way to school.

Carrying my gas mask was a huge priority and the only time I can remember being chastised by my dad was because I鈥檇 been playing in an empty house and left my gas mask. I don鈥檛 think my feet touched the floor as he marched me back to find it. I never lost it again !!

During the 鈥渂litz鈥� we spent 54 nights and days in the shelters either at school or at home. At school we said the rosary and sang songs like 鈥淭en Green Bottles鈥� and 鈥淥ne Man Went To Mow鈥�. School exercise books had to be completely full before we were allowed a new one. We had to write in the margins and on the covers and after that they went for salvage.

A land mine was dropped near our house and we were evacuated to a church hall until it was made safe. Going down to the shelter I remember the search lights seeking out the enemy bombers and on one night in particular the huge red glow in the sky above central London.

There was talk amongst the grown ups of planes, I think they were Stuckers, chasing people down the street with machine gun fire. We only saw pictures of the war in the cinema because there was no TV then of course. Pathe News Reel and of course the news papers kept us informed to a limited degree.

We stuck it out in London until the Doodle Bugs started and then my parents gave in and returned to Blackburn to live in relative peace. That was when I had to start wearing clogs and put up with being ridiculed for my cockney accent!!

When I was 11 years old and attending Audley Council School I took my scholarship

and there was some resentment because I was given a different test which was based mainly on IQ. That was because my schooling had been so badly disrupted. Although I passed I was denied a place at Notre Dame Convent but accepted at Blackburn High School for Girls where I thoroughly enjoyed being taught to be a young lady. No clogs there !!!

I know that food was rationed but don鈥檛 remember ever going hungry. Bread and dripping was always a good stand by for breakfast. I suppose it must have been difficult for my parents to deal with my childhood fads and I remember that food I left from dinner was there again for tea. There were no school dinners when we lived in Southall but I remember them in my Blackburn schools and the teachers standing over us until we cleared our plates.

I had my dad鈥檚 sweet coupons so didn鈥檛 go short of sweets. Indeed, it was through those very sweet coupons that I met my husband outside a sweet shop on the Isle of Man. He鈥檇 no coupons and I had some to spare. Bribery at 16 years of age.

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