大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War Site by GMR Action Desk on behalf of Anne Atherton and has been added to the site with her permission.
I was living in Wilton鈥檚 Extent near Pot Hall bridge Heywood, Lancashire. I think it was the Sunday before Christmas 1940 and we were visiting my mother, Mrs Walch at Gooden farm, Heywood when the air raids were on. My mother told us to stay there because she thought we would be safer. That night a bomb dropped in a field on the farm and the force blew me and my husband out of bed. We were on the floor but not hurt. Next morning the cows were all running around the bomb crater. We thought it was hilarious because if we had stayed at home we would not have been thrown out of bed. When we came down stairs after the bomb had dropped we did not put a light on because of the blackout but we felt as though we were walking on soft velvet but it was really a layer of soot which had come down the chimneys with the blast.
My parents had prisoners of war working on the farm. They were not allowed to come into the house but my mother always gave them a proper dinner because she said they were on poor rations and worked hard with hay making and general farm work. They were mostly Italians. Some were kept at Times Mill Heywood and some at the Air Ministry Pilsworth Heywood.

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