大象传媒

Here are a few snippets of what I can remember during the war. I was 9 years old when the war first started. Before the evacuation of children took place I attended a school near to where I lived and one day I was returning after having lunch at home I heard a very low flying plane and looked up to see the wing of a plane in the clouds I then heard machine gun fire so I flung myself into the nearest hedge. I have wondered since then what or who the target was!
The Morrison shelter.
I slept with my parents in the shelter. I was very uncomfortable and would get very hot. There were many times during the day, when the enemy planes got too near for comfort, we would dive into it, and as it was a narrow opening we sometimes misjudged the size of the opening and would bang our heads on the iron frame! I think I still carry a few dents in my forhead.
St. Francis de Sales school, which was situated next to the Church, (in Tottenham)took a direct hit and a very large statue of the Virgin Mary, which stood in front of the Prestbytery, flew over the stands of the Tottenham Hotspur ground and landed head first
into the pitch. I think the authorites at first thought that it was an unexploded bomb, but on closer inspection found that it was a statue, which strange as it may seem, was not damaged.
There seemed to be a shortage of white material during the war and my Mother wanted to make some pillow slips.We went to Wood Green to get some suitable material, and we finally bought the fabric in Burgesses, a large department store in the High Road. We made our way back to Turnpike Lane to catch a bus home. The bus was very full and we had to stand. We had reached the hill, which went over the railway line, when there was an almighty explosion. The bus was lifted off the road and all the windows cracked. Lucky for us the windows had been covered with netting and the glass was contained. Burgesses had had a direct hit & most of the staff & customers were killed.
During the war my Father was a Trolley-bus driver. One day a driver asked my Father if he would change shifts with him. My Father did so and a V2 rocket exploded very near to the Trolleybus and they found the driver dead on top of what was left of Maples the Furniture store in Tottenham Court Road and the Trolley bus was up ended leaning against the debris. In some of the war books there is a photograph.
I could go on and on but feel this is enough for now.

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