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I was born in 1929. On the day war broke out I was helping my father to mix concrete to build an indoor shelter at Boyd’s Fish Shop in Endike Lane, Hull. I recall a man came along to tell us that war had broken out. Not very long after this my father, as a builder, was claimed by the Government and sent to help build the Esham Aerodrome. This left my mother with seven of us to look after. Additionally, in 1940 mother gave birth to twin boys, Bruce and Brian. My father only came home every third weekend. My mum had a bed brought down the stairs. Us girls had to bring one of the twins each downstairs when the sirens went off and hide under the bed with them until the all-clear.
In 1941 Brian was taken very ill. I was sent to fetch the doctor. The first one was out and the second had been called up. However, the third one took me back to 23, 37th Avenue, Hull. He then took my mum and brother to the Children’s Hospital as Brian had pneumonia. Mum came home at 8 o’clock the next morning to get our breakfast ready and went back to the hospital at 11a.m. She went up to the ward to find Brian’s bed empty. The doctor came in and told her that Brian had died. My father came home for the inquest, where it was said that the practice of putting a sick child in front of an open window applied to a child on 6 years, and not 6 months of age. As a consequence my Mum had a nervous breakdown and dad was given some compassionate leave.
On 18th June 1941 Dad was fire watching outside of our shelter and saw a land mine coming down. He retreated into the shelter just as the mine was coming down. It got stuck on some telegraph wires and exploded overhead. I woke up to find lumps of brick and dust on the bed. I remember asking my brother Jack if he was alright… I was pleased to hear that he was indeed unhurt. We then heard someone shouting outside ‘Are you all OK?’ Dad complained that his face hurt, as did mum. She was frantically searching for the Savlon in the dark as dad tried to find the torch. Eventually it was found that mum and dad’s faces were covered in blood and that they had lost some of their hair. When we were finally dug out they were taken to the Hull Royal Infirmary. The next day dad borrowed a lorry and took Harry, Margaret and I to my Grandma’s house in Chestnut Avenue in Withernsea. My grandfather had died recently so she was living alone at the time. We went to Withernsea School. I remember that one day two German planes came over and two bombs were dropped. Someone said they have dropped two bags of soot! However, it became clear that it was not soot, but actual bombs. We ran away but were thrown through a shop window by the force of the blast. When the all-clear eventually went we came out of the shop and I ran around the back of the bowling green. I was then stopped dead in my tracks to see a soldier, attempting to put the guts back into the body of his comrade, who was then covered by a white sheet. A policeman tried to stop me looking and walking past, but I insisted as I needed to know that my sister Jacqueline was OK. She worked as an usherette at the Kinema which was very near to where the bomb had dropped and I was worried for her safety. She was safe and well thank goodness. However, I recall that 43 people were killed getting off a train in the town that day. I recall running home to tell mum that she was OK, but I got into trouble for losing a shoe in the ensuing panic!

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