大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from Northumberland on behalf of Mrs. Joan Shepherd (nee Hindhaugh). Mrs. Shepherd fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions, and the story has been added to the site with her permission. It is written in the first person.

I was about eight years old when the Second World War began. The family home was on Acklington Road, Amble, Northumberland where I lived with my brother, Jack, and sister, Eileen. My parents were George and Ida Hindhaugh. Dad was away for much of the war, serving with the Royal Army Service Corps at various places throughout England. I seem to recall that his unit serviced small ship squadrons, perhaps Motor Torpedo Boat squadrons, but what I do remember is that when he came home on leave he often brought with him tins of pilchards and fruit.

During the first couple of years of the War, German aeroplanes regularly passed over Amble, presumably on their way to or from Glasgow and the Clyde shipyards and shipping. The air raid siren, which was above the Police Station, was not sounded on each and every occasion but, when it was, during the early days we usually took shelter under the dining table. Often, the wireless was left on, so we listened to 鈥淎ppointment With Fear鈥�, which, from memory, started at ten o鈥檆lock at night. Later, we had what was known as a table-top shelter. This was a strong wire mesh on a frame, with a metal top about six feet long by three feet wide, which sat in the corner of one of our downstairs rooms. In theory, it would have protected us from large pieces of falling masonry. Fortunately, it was never really put to the test!

Our immediate neighbours were Mr. and Mrs. Bowey, who had no family. Mr. Bowey was a builder and, at the beginning of the war, he started to build an air raid shelter in his back garden. It was sunk into the garden, so its top was level with the soil, save for a small parapet made of two rows of bricks. It must have been about twelve feet long and nine feet wide. It had a concrete roof and floor, brick walls, and doors at either end with steps leading down from ground level. Heavy wooden benches, perhaps four or five feet deep, allowed we children to lie fully stretched on them while older folk sat on the edge. A couple of chairs completed the furniture. The shelter was lit and I feel sure there was, also, a thermos stove on which hot drinks were prepared.

Mr. and Mrs. Bowey kindly invited our family, and a few other neighbours, to use their air raid shelter when the siren sounded. Perhaps, a dozen people did so, including five or six children. We went as we were dressed. If we were not sleeping, we talked or read books, and I remember the sweets and biscuits we had. Sometimes, we would be in the shelter for a couple of hours. It was cold, yet it was also comfortable.

On a couple of occasions, bombs fell on nearby villages, for example at Radcliffe and at Alnmouth. On one occasion, at least, the main street in Amble was straffed by a German plane. I also remember the crew of a German bomber that crashed in the sea off Amble being rescued and marched up the street.

Mr. Bowey鈥檚 air raid shelter was far safer than being under our dining table. Although it was filled in after the War it was not actually demolished until about twenty years ago, in the early or mid-1980s. Pneumatic drills were used to do so, which must say something about its substantial construction!

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