大象传媒

Before the war, my parents were employed at Ringshall Hall. My father was gardener/handyman and my mother was cook/housekeeper when the war clouds threatened. Mr & Mrs Browne, who my parents worked for, decided to give up the Hall and move back to London. As wages were so low, both parents had to work. There were three of us children 鈥� my brother Jim, then myself and our younger sister Doreen. At that time the eldest girl was always looked upon as the nursemaid. Some girls had to look after 5 or 6 younger children but as they鈥檇 been brought up to it, they accepted it.

My mother found work at the old rectory, working for Mr & Mrs Roland Hitchcock and my dad helped build the water tower that stood at the junction of Carters Lane. Then he helped build runways etc on Wattisham airfield.

The Women鈥檚 Institute went around the village asking people to knit comforts for the RAF. My mother certainly didn鈥檛 have time to knit, as she cooked nourishing meals for us but I, like many other country girls, was able to knit at a very young age, so the job became mine. Wool was not in balls but in skeins and if you couldn鈥檛 find anyone to hold the skein, it had to be put over the back of a chair, which took much longer.

My girlfriend Paddy, who lived in the old school house with her parents, two brothers and one sister, was very often with me. While in the last term of junior school, we had new cycles delivered to the school to enable us to get to Needham Market area school as soon the autumn term started. The cycles each had a neat little tool bag hanging at the rear of the seat and we were taught how to keep the cycles well oiled, mend a puncture and put the chain back on. We were so excited at using our new cycles we wanted the new term to start right away but had to wait for the underground shelters to be built. On the day we started the senior school, we found solders 鈥榮quare bashing鈥� on our playground so we kept well out of the way.

On the day the war started, Paddy鈥檚 family came home from church to find Paddy鈥檚 dad boarding up their little front room to make it gas proof. It was sealed up completely and all sorts of provisions were stored there, in case the need arose.

Soon my dad鈥檚 work came to an end. My brother had started work at Ransomes Sims & Jeffries in Ipswich so my dad got a job there. They had to cycle over 9 miles each way, so it was decided we had to move to Ipswich. I was horrified and both Paddy & I cried over being parted and thought it was the end of the world but vowed we would stay friends and see each other as often as we could. There had been new housing estates built in Ipswich and we were told we could move to the Whitton Estate the following May. I hated leaving Needham School but I had to move on to The Western School for Girls (now Westbourne mixed).

As time went on, the air raids started but they were mostly planes going over on their way to bomb elsewhere. We had underground shelters at School; a long tunnel with wooden slats to walk on in case of flooding. It was mostly quite fun to go down and sit, chat and wait for the 鈥榓ll clear鈥� but when we were in class with the Domestic Science teacher, she wouldn鈥檛 let us sit down and we had to walk up and down singing 鈥淥nward Christian Solders鈥� and other rousing hymns. Later we heard she had gone into an institution - I don鈥檛 know if it was us or religion which had sent her 鈥榦ff the rails鈥�.

We were told by the head teacher that if we were walking to school and the siren sounded, we were to walk home again. I always walked with Marjorie from next door and one day as we started out, the siren went so we walked home. Later, we started out again, siren sounded, and home again. This went on throughout the morning and eventually after we had started out 8 times, by mid afternoon we decided that we would give it up for the day. While we had been walking, it had not been boring: there were barrage balloons to stop the enemy planes flying too low, there was an 鈥楢ck Ack鈥� gun just off the Whitton estate in the fields which made a terrific noise and the RAF were having 鈥榙og fights鈥� with the German planes going over. As one German plane was hit, feelings ran so high that everyone watching cheered and a parachutist was seen floating to the ground. One day a parachutist came down near the Ipswich docks in an area of terraced houses which was considered to be rough. As the German came down to the ground, the local women wanted to get at him with their kitchen knives. He was lucky someone in authority had come along quickly or he would have come to a very sticky end.

People began to say it wasn鈥檛 safe for all the children to stay in Ipswich, so evacuation was organised. You could make your own arrangements if you had someone to go to in a safe area and my parents decided it would be best if my sister (who was only 6) and I were evacuated. When the time came we had to meet at Whitton Junior School and from there we went to Ipswich Station and boarded a train. We had no idea where we were going and we shared a carriage with 6 sisters - the eldest being about 15 and the youngest about 4. We had quite an interesting journey with all of them. When we arrived all the evacuees were taken to a large hall and given tea. Later, the group was split up and sent to smaller halls and had to wait while people came to choose who they wanted to take home. An elderly lady chose us two and took us home to 57 Walton Street, Narborough Road, Leicester.

We were very shy and the lady, Mrs Williams, told us her husband worked on the railway and would be home soon. He arrived later and seemed as wary of us as we were of him. Mr & Mrs Williams鈥� own family were grown up and had left home. We were told which schools we had to go to and Mrs Williams took Doreen to school as she was so young. When Saturday came we were told that as the Williams鈥� children had always gone to Saturday morning pictures, we would have to go too while Mrs Williams scrubbed her doorstep and got her cleaning done. The worst part was that children weren鈥檛 allowed in the picture unless they had an adult with them and we were told we had to ask an adult to take us in! I didn鈥檛 want to do that and so we waited outside for ages until I plucked up courage and asked someone. Thank goodness after we got inside the man disappeared so we sat by ourselves. I thought the films were awful and 鈥楩lash Gordon鈥� frightened the life out of me while poor Doreen sat crying. I kept thinking it was such a short time ago we had such carefree lives in the country. Mrs Williams and her family were very kind to us but Doreen cried every night for mum.

As the weeks went by, the raids became very bad and the Williams鈥� had a brick shelter in the garden whereas at home we had an Anderson shelter sunk into the garden and covered with earth and it felt much safer in the Anderson. While we were there I had my 13th birthday and all the family gave me money. I was worried about Doreen crying so much, and so bought her a doll and she called it Topsy. When the raids were on, we all sat in the brick shelter and Mrs Williams was a real nervous wreck. She kept crying out every time there was another bomb and prayed loudly. Oh how I wished we were at home with my placid mum and dad. Then there was the awful ten hour raid on Coventry when the cathedral was bombed. Mrs Williams had heard that Ipswich wasn鈥檛 being bombed so she decided to send us home. Was I happy!

We started off early next morning and reached the station. Mrs Williams, still in a nervous state, bought the tickets, gave them to me and we said 鈥淕oodbye & Thank you鈥� and got on the train, thinking it wouldn鈥檛 be long before we鈥檇 be home. I was told where we had to change trains and when we arrived at the station I realised Mrs Williams had given me the platform ticket and kept the train tickets herself. I explained to the guard, she was sending us home as the bombing in Leicester was so bad. I was told that it was alright about the tickets but we鈥檇 have to change again somewhere else. We waited and waited at the station while the trains went through full of soldiers and were told it would be another hour before the next train. This went on and in all we had to change 7 times with me explaining about the tickets at each station. We were hungry and I thought at this rate it will be dark before we get to Ipswich. Finally we got on a train that would take us to Ipswich. When we got there I started with my explanation about the tickets and the ticket collector said in his good old Suffolk accent, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 alright dear we know all about you鈥� 鈥� I was very close to tears. We then caught a trolley bus and finally arrived home.

There was such a surprise at home and I explained about the heavy bombing in Leicester and told them Mrs Williams had sent a telegram to say we were coming home that day. The country was in such turmoil that the telegram arrived some hours later. We had been in Leicester for 10 weeks. About two years later Mr Williams died and Mrs Williams booked a holiday in Great Yarmouth so that she could get a coach to Ipswich to see us. We met her and took her home to meet our family. She must have been in her mid 70s by then. I thought Mrs Williams and her family had been so kind to us, sharing everything in what were very difficult times.

Before we were evacuated we knew that Paddy was going to stay with an aunt in New South Wales. Many children went to relatives in Canada, America, South Africa and Australia. It was Paddy鈥檚 mother鈥檚 sister who Paddy was going to but no one had seen her for years and Paddy鈥檚 family didn鈥檛 expect to see Paddy again as there was never money for travel. Paddy went to Liverpool to the embarkation point and was there for a week before being allowed to go onboard ship. Still she waited not knowing why. Then the awful news came through that the 鈥楥ity of Benares鈥�, an evacuation ship full of children, had been sunk by U Boats. Everyone was very upset at the loss of children鈥檚 lives when they had been looking forward to a happy life in America. It was decided not to send any more children abroad and Paddy came home again.

So we all returned to our various schools. By then many teachers had been called up or decided to volunteer for the force of their choice. In our last year from 13 鈥� 14, a retired teacher returned and read to us every afternoon, books such as Lorna Doone and Treasure Island. Not much good for our education but that was the best education they could find. I left school at Christmas and in January started work in a tailoring factory where we had to work a 48 hour week.

Paddy and I kept in touch and the only work she could get near Ringshall at that time, was domestic work, living in all week with only Sunday afternoons off. I told her how I enjoyed the work so she asked if I thought my mum would let her come and live with us. My mum didn鈥檛 mind so Paddy鈥檚 mum said as we lived all week in Ipswich, we could spend weekends with her at Ringshall. This suited us fine, so from then on we went everywhere together. We almost always cycled as there were very few buses.

...continued in part 2

Joyce Chalkley (nee Scase)

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