´óÏó´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Anna Wilson of Leicestershire Library Services on behalf of Sheila Clarkson and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was 10 years old when war broke out and lived in Leicester.

I remember the day Neville Chamberlain announced the war on the radio. I was not at home but with my friends done the street. We were all gathered around the radio.

My father put an Anderson Shelter in our garden and also ended up putting one up for the neighbours. We lived opposite Moat Road School and I remember them putting in underground shelters there.

I remember the first German aircraft going over. I was supposed to be in the park with my friend. Everyone panicked when the sirens went off. My mother was frantic looking for me. She thought I was wearing my red coat but actually I had my pink jacket on! I had managed to get into an air raid shelter though so was fine. The air raid lasted about 20 minutes.

My father had to go on ARP duty. My mother used to tell him off as he wouldn't wear his helmet - he preferred his bowler hat!

I remember one night when Coventry was bombed. You could see the flames from Evington. I had gone to friends as it was safer. That night, the factory where my father worked was land mined. He worked at Mellor-Bromleys making bombs. My mum and auntie were in the shelter next to the land mine. They were really frightened as it shook the shelter. My father lost his tools but he was compensated and bought new ones after the war.

My mother had a map on the living room wall. We had uncles in the navy who we wrote too. When they told us where they were, mum would mark the counties on the map. My Uncle Tom was on the flagship that went into Egypt.

I remember D-Day. This was all kept 'hush hush' but word had got around that the boys were going.

My grandma had soldiers billeted to her house. There wasn't much room and she didn't want them but she was given the choice between them and evacuees. I hated the soldiers as they seemed big, with uniforms and always seemed to be staring at me. My mother used to say 'but so-and-so is nice…' but I didn't think so.

The day the war finished we went to the De Montford Hall for a dance. There were celebrations all round the clock tower. The same thing happened when the Japanese war ended.

School
I had just started Junior School when the war started. We had to go to a new school that I had to walk to. I remember feeling really scared as I thought that bombs would drop on me on the way. We had air raid drills at school where we had to practise getting into the shelter with our gas masks. I remember that we had an awful science teacher. We had needlework classes and I was a Head Prefect. Part of the school was set up to be a little house. We took it in turns to go in there and learn how to make beds, iron, wash and cook. We had to cook a meal for the teachers so they ate all right in the war! You had to make your own hat and overall out of a thick grey material. I remember telling one teacher that I wanted work in tailoring and she said that I should be in an office. The boys did wood work.

Entertainment
My auntie's took me dancing in the factories and I became very good. My mother always warned me against the 'yanks' though as she said they were too frisky! My father was a violinist so we went to concerts he played in. I remember going to see him at the De Montford Hall. I had to have a special suit and hat.

Fashion
We had clothing coupons to buy clothes. It was really difficult as I was growing. I didn't like growing out of clothes as it was hard to buy more. We had to darn our jumpers. We did have a relative in tailoring who helped us a bit and made some clothes.

Work
I started work later on in the war. I worked at the Co-op, in the tailoring department. They were really short of staff as people had gone to work in the munitions factories. We had to make the tea as juniors and the chaps on the presses told me they like me as 'the others made the tea too weak!' This was because tea was rationed. We also each had to have a cup of cocoa every day 'to build us up.'

Food
The food was fine at first but then we had to have ration books. My father had relatives in a village called Yelvertoft so we got butter and eggs from them.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.