大象传媒

Orignally I was from Leicester, I was eight when the war broke out and my family and I moved to North Norfolk where my dad thought it would be much safer. He was never forgiven by my mother for selling the house because it was a beautiful house with an amazing shower (spray coming out of the corners) and he had to sell it for next to nothing as Leicester was obviously an industrial city and likely to be a target. I have been back to the house and now found it to be rather small and grotty! It was very exciting to leave leicester because we moved right by the sea and there were dogs and ponies and excitement everyday. My brother had a disastrous time with a pony - he fell out of the saddle and was dragged with his head hitting the floor, as a result he had headaches for the rest of his life.
I was a wild child, at ease with the strong dry cold winds, and protected by my labrador dog, lassie. Lassie was more important to me than human being, my protector, she had the greatest influence on me, she taught me positivity and make full use of the small things around me.
Wendy never saw soldiers around but you saw the effects, graffiti, mines on the beach, but as a girl I forgot about it and it was all about the fun of the chase. One time with lassie I was walking along a big cliff where it was crumbling as I walked and cows looking at me curiously. Which suddendly charged us, me and lassie rang for our lives.
Dad was in Weybourne in the Royal artillary as a volunteer. Mum had a little hotel and she was a genius at cooking rabbit hair or any meat that wasnt on ration! There were food coupons for everything and mum had to account for every cup of tea. It must have been a nightmare and we could not get staff! So as a young girl who should have been doing her homework, I was helping with the dishes and the tables and many of the guest were concerned about me and used to help with my chores. Of course I was duty bound to help in every way I possibly could . As a shy girl it unlocked my personality and began playing pratical jokes on the guest. My shyness disappeared over the night. There was a wonderful sprirt! Once I made apple pie beds (this is where you make the sheets so tight you cant get into the bed and either have to sleep crawled up or remake the bed). I was abit of a tom boy and used to love hanging out with the boys and used to learn all their tricks, buckets of water on the door, itching powder. My good trick was to tie a cord from the door handle to the other side of the bedroom and on the cord was hanging my teddy bear! one guest dashed into the bedroom as a result the teddy bear hit her in the chest and it rang across the room infront of her - the screams were so loud!
The guest were friends for life! They had been so hungary and to come to the country and get good food, they were feisted there and then had ponies and the coastline to enjoy! It was like an escape for many!
Mother suffered most of the knock on effects of the war such as the rations but she rose to every challenge. The eggs were preserved in a big pot in icing glass as you never knew when you could buy another egg but of course we had our own hens.
I remember dad was going to kill the cockrel for chicken was a very special meal and he ran after this bird with an axe raised in his hand. He was so incenced at him terrorizing this animal, I was ready to report him to the RSPCA. Nevertheless the roast chicken was delicious with the stuffings and the bacon rolls. hmmmmmmm.
Nowadays we worry about chicken with all the additives but back then it was a wonderful pure and succulent food! You had to make the gravy properly with the juices not bisto otherwise I was not a real cook! It is the test of a ready cook if you can make real gravy!
One time when i cam back from school (aged 9/10) I had the house key round my neck and I let in my little brother nigel. and make him his tea and lit the fire. It was very often a difficult job and you would try different methods of building it up, no cheating what so ever with firelighters. Except I knew a lazy fire could be encouraged if you put a newspaper across the gap then it would blow up and roar away in a moment. My parents would have been horified if they knew, but when you heard the crackle of the sticks you felt it was a great achievement and you would sit infront of the flames for quality time telling stories. The shapes of the flames relaxing you and suggesting ideas, something we miss now, TV is not the same.
At school we used to have strong shelters, long and narrow smelling of damp! We also h ad a strict drill, gas mask on or at least on your shoulder. The household shelter down the garden was much more fun. It was like a party with all the unexpected food stuffs and candles and stories and I in my naievity wanted to see the bomb strike us a direct hit for I knew it would bounce right of hahahhaha!!
Nowadays kids are born streetwise it seems, I was eight and just enjoyed being yound - we deny children their youth! My mother and father was amazing at protecting me and letting me enjoy my youth. We all ate carrots believing it would improve our night vision! We were all in this business for one good reason to overcome evil for the sake of the generations to come. Carrot vision we really believed in so we could see in the pitch dark, there was no street lights, bicycle or car lights and the best way to navigate was to look at the sky. It would be lighter where the town was - you develped your inate abilites, there were no street signs. It was a wonderful spirit of commaderie, you knew and could trust everyone and that is what I miss the most!! That is how it should be among human beings! The songs were amazing, people always singing, keeping our spirits us! My favourite was Vera Lynn "we'll meet again"I believe it was because we all had a christian faith in those days and we believed in heaven. It carried alot of people through, I made a pact with god that if I could live through these terrible days I would be a good girl for the rest of my life we knew we could not run away come bullets and bombs. If our name was on it, it was on it!
In North Norfolk there were not many bombs dropped but we were on a direct line for the planes from Germany loaded up labouring to their targets. They made a different sound coming back empty incase the stray bomb should fall, I would make my little brother get out of his bed and sleep under it.

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