大象传媒

"We were a big family. There were twelve children and I was the second. I was born Patricia Barbara Harris on 24th June 1932 in a house in Kensington High Street where my parents rented a couple of rooms. My dad was a plasterer; he was a very strict parent and he didn't talk to us much; my mother was lovely and very caring.
When I was about seven we left Kensington and were given a council house in Harrow on the Weald. By the beginning of the war there were seven of us - Joan, Alec, Ron, Len, Jean, Derek and me. Some time early on in the war there was an air raid over Harrow. We lived near the main railway line to London and bombs were dropped only a street away from us - a fourteen year old girl was killed - our house was so badly damaged we couldn't return to it. We were lucky - we took refuge in our neighbour's air raid shelter during the raid because ours had been water-logged - that probably saved our lives
We never went back to our old home; for a short time we slept on the floor in our auntie's house who lived nearby. Then we were told we were going to be evacuated to Northampton. My Dad was given special leave to see us off. There were seven of us children and Mum; Derek was still a baby
We took the train to Northampton. When we arrived there we had no-one to meet us and we walked along St Andrew's Road from the station carrying our few possessions; that is my first memory of Northampton. We must have been a poor looking lot of kids because the old woman who took me and my sister in made us some new clothes soon after !
Joan and I were boarded in Semilong Road; the house was big - it was opposite the vicarage. The family who lived there consisted of an old couple and their five adult children who still lived at home. Joan and I slept in the attic room
Luckily for us, our brothers were in the house next door and our Mum and the two youngest children were housed in Far Cotton. My Auntie Rose lived just round the corner in Gordon Street
Life in Northampton was quite peaceful at this time. There were no air raids. A Stirling bomber crashed in the town centre and caused damage but there was nothing like in Harrow
I went to St Paul's School in Semilong but not for long. Soon, the old couple we were living with complained that Joan and I were always arguing so my mum split us up. I went to live with Aunt Rose's daughter's in-laws in Cranford Road, Kingsthorpe; they were lovely and really spoilt me. Once again, I moved school to Kingsthorpe Grove; it had so many evacuee children that it only provided half-time education. The evacuees had one half of the day and the local children the other !
Towards the end of the war my mum was given a big council house in Methyr Road, Spencer; it had five bedrooms. There were seven of us in 1939 but Dad had still been home on leave so the babies kept coming - Brian, Rita, Robert, Michael and Peter!
In 1945 my dad finally came home and we were all reunited. I was thirteen years old when we all lived together again. I wasn't really happy though. My dad was so strict and severe that you couldn't be... Mum had been on her own for six years and now she had to get used to life with Dad. My mum was wonderful and very kind.
We never went back to live in the London area. We were now all Northampton people and I still live here sixty years later. I married a Northampton man, Geoffrey Smith, who was a wonderful husband and I have a son, Alan, and three lovely grandchildren
The war caused a big change in our lives but we have all come through it well..."

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