大象传媒

I had moved from Oldham to Grasscroft, which was situated in Saddleworth,and at the time before B----y political interference, was in Yorkshire. At the outbreak of war with Germany I was nearly six years old and had just started attending Friezland School. The school lay further down the valley and it was a steep descent, or a hard climb, which ever way one was travelling. On the way to the school there were two railwasy bridges to go under. One bridge carried the line to Oldham, and the one NEAREST the school, went from 'Somewhere' to 'Somewhere'. During air-raids we were moved from the school, which had no air raid shelters, to, of all places, the SOAP works. We stopped just inside the entrance to the warehouse and the smell, was of course, SOAPY>

One particular time during an air-raid, I remember we sat there and sang the usual songs, 'She'll be coming round the Mountains', 'You'll never go to Heaven', 'Run rabbit, run rabbit', 'You are my Sunshine' and various other popular songs of the day.

We were all waiting for the 'All Clear' and we clutched our gas masks, wondering if there was going to be an air attack. Then, as the tension heightened, we heard the mournful whistle of a railway engine, and, starining our ears, could hear the 'Chug, Chug' of a train. It was on the bottom line, the one NEAREST the school. All movements on this line were of Goods, never passenger trains. The train came nearer and still there was no 'All Clear'. We couldn't see down the line, we were only in sight of the bridge area, but it became apparent that the engine was labouring to pull the heavy load.

The singing by this time had stopped, and even the humming of the machines in the factory seemed to have died down. The train moved nearer to us.

I had heard of enemy planes 'Shooting Up' goods trains, and my mind could only focus on the facts as I perceived them. It was obvious that the enemy aircraft would move in on the train, and, whilst firing at the train, would hit us also. There was no sound of aircraft, but that didn't matter, they could be here in seconds. We all reacted in the same way, crouching and clutching our gas mask cases. Then the engine finally appeared, and, much to our horror, we saw that it was a fuel train. The engine was pulling fuel tanks. It went on and on and the anxiety increased. There was no shouting, no crying, just a weird ominous silence and a pervading fear that miraculously disappeared when the train did.

For a week afterwards, all I could think about was the engine driver and the guard. How very brave they were in moving that train and its load. It never occured to me to consider the concern our Teachers must have had for their safety and ours. The 'All Clear' had sounded and we returned back to school, and of course, LESSONS!!!

the enemy could have 'Bombed' the school, but they didn't. Our 'Luck' didn't seem to be in that day.

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