大象传媒

Towards the end of July 1939 I walked out of Geere House Open Air School in
Stepney Green, East London not realizing that I would never return.
I was very happy as it was the beginning of the six weeks school summer holidays,
and I was going to stay with my father's sister and her husband, my Aunt Sally
and Uncle Ed. They lived in Bournemouth and I was going to live with them for
the whole six weeks.

About the middle of August there was talk of war with Germany. It meant little to
me. We had pictures at home of my father in khaki army uniform. He had been in
the East Surrey Rifles, and had been fighting in France and Germany in the
l914ll8 war, I had heard Uncle Ed . speak about the fighting he was in when he
was stationed in Mesopotamia, but to me that was ancient history.
I understood things were getting serious when people came round the houses
asking if they could take in children from Southampton. My aunt and uncle were
saying I had better stop with them until we knew what was going to happen. The
evacuee started to arrive. I was registered to go to the local school. I was
content with my little world.
3'd September 1939 war was declared. Young men were being called up for the
services and being sent over to France. Nothing much else seemed to be
happening. Uncle Ed. joined the LDV later to be known as the Home Guard.
By May 1940 everyone had their ears glued to the wireless for news. Uncle Ed
had his own business. He was a milkman. When he returned from guard duty one
night he told us that if he was called out during the day my Aunt and I would have
to finish his milk-round. Mr.Dean, who lived next door and worked at the
Bournemouth Pavilion , called over the fence to tell us that he had seen lots of
craft sailing past and going south round the Isle of Wight and was sure the
'Bournemouth
Queen
' was amongst them. This boat was a steam ship that in peacetime was moored at the end of the pier and did trips around the Isle of Wight, but since the start of the war had been moored with lots of other craft in Poole Harbour. We soon found out what was happening. The boats were sailing over to Dunkirk to bring our troops back that were stranded on the beaches there. At the beginning of June hundreds of troops were arriving on the south coast. Trains were bringing them along the coast. Many started to arrive at Bournemouth Central Station and billeted in Church Halls, schools, hotels or anywhere else that was available.

My friend and I went along the main road. Everywhere there were foreign soldiers, my friend said they were French because she could understand a few words they were saying, but when later we went down to the beach we asked them where they came from and they said ' Belgie '. We did not know where that was so they drew a map in the sand. We then realized they meant Belgium; the
country next to France. We had a game of quoits with them along with a lot of other children. We had no idea at that time what they must have gone through to arrive at what must have been to them at that time another world. After a couple of weeks they had all gone. The next we heard was that the two piers, one at Boscombe and the other at Bournemouth were going to be blown up to stop the enemy landing. My Aunt and I were shopping in Boscombe when we heard the explosions. We went down Sea Road to see if we could see anything but were stopped from going near the front. We walked back along the cliff top and looked back towards the pier and could see that there was a great hole in the centre and just the two ends were still standing. Barbed wire was soon being put up all along the front. People were not allowed to go there unless you had a good reason. Evacuees were being moved inland. My parents came down for a few days and it was decided I should go back to London with them as all was quite there and some schools were going to open again.

We lived at Belgrave Street, Stepney a long straight tuming just off Commercial Road. I had been born there. It was a large double fronted house built in the last century. We only had the four rooms upstairs plus a small kitchen that had a sink and cold running water in it. We also had one of the basement rooms. My dad had plumbed in a bath down there as it also had cold water and a sink We had to heat our water in an electric copper. The back of the room had a large curtain
across it which my dad had for a dark room as his hobby was photography. A Mr and Mrs Judge had lived downstairs with their two children Jessie and Freddy. They had the same size rooms as us but their cold water was obtained from a tap in the yard, but they did have the use of a washhouse with water in it so Mrs Judge did her washing in there. My mum did hers in the basement. I had always played with Jessie in the yard or in their basement room if it was cold or wet. We had always been friends. Returning from Boumemouth the first thing I remember was how grimy London looked. Any important building had sandbags in front of it and sticky tape over all the windows. Going into our house it was so quiet. My mother had written to me to tell me that Mr & Mrs Judge and their children had moved out and gone to live in Dagenham. Other friends I had played with were still evacuated. I felt lost. I had missed my family while I was away but I did not like being back home again.

Mum and I went to the Education Office to see about me going to school. We
were told that Geere House would not be opening again, but if we wished it could
be arranged for me to go to Ascot where the school had been since the beginning
of the war. The only other alternative was for me to register at the nearest school
to our house which was the church school belonging to St.Dunstan's. We went
there to make arrangements for me to start the following week.

The lady who lived across the street to us at No.2 called to say her and her daughter were giving up the house and moving out of London. She asked my mother if she would hand the keys to the house into the 'Mercers' office when she went to pay her rent. Mum and dad must have talked this over because the next I heard was they would like to look over No.2 to see if it would be suitable for us. The 'Mercers' Company owned most of the properly not only in our street but most of the surrounding streets and were known as very good landlords. They gave her permission to go and look over the house. There were two adjoining rooms with folding doors dividing them. My mother liked the white marble fireplaces and the parquet flooring but did not like the kitchen and scullery which had a large built in copper in the corner. My dad said he could soon knock that
down. Upstairs had two small bedrooms at the front, one large room at the back and further to the back over the top of the kitchen was another good size room with a wash-basin and gas fire in it. Dad got very enthusiastic about this room so did my brother as the room was over the kitchen with gas and water already up there and the outside toilet just below the end wall between them they could make it into a bathroom with inside toilet. Mum pointed out that the house would cost
another 6/- a week more than we paid for our flat at No.3. It was unusual for dad to make decisions as he usually said leave it to mum. Dad said if the landlords would let him turn the back bedroom into a bathroom we should take it. Mum went to see the 'Mercers' and their foreman came to see what we wanted to do. They must have agreed because the next I heard was we were moving.
My brother mentioned to his friend, who lived at the corner of the street, about us going to live at No.2. His sister Beatie and her husband came to our flat to see if it was suitable for them. They were so enthusiastic about it that mum started having doubts about us giving it up. Dad pointed out that we would have the whole house to ourselves across the road together with a garden. Mum agreed and her and Beatie went to the Mercers Co. and it was settled. We would move into No.2 and Beatie and her husband would have the upstairs of No3. The date they chose to move was Saturday the 7th September 1940.

This is a day in my life I shall never forget. The weather was lovely and we started to carry things over to No.2. A van pulled up with two large square rugs that mum had ordered during the past week. These she wanted for the two downstairs rooms. We spent the morning going backwards and forwards carrying boxes and furniture. When the dining table and chairs plus the sideboard were in the downstairs back room Dad whispered to me to make it look nice in there ready for us to have something to eat. I put all the things back in the sideboard and laid the table. I then went and picked a few flowers that were in the garden and put them on the mantle-piece. Mum came in and said it looked more like home. Dad called to say he just wanted to put the beds up upstairs then we would eat. Sitting at the table dad was looking at the window which he thought would look much better with glass doors.. Mum said get rid of the copper first and do something in the kitchen which was painted a dark yellow and brown, and she hated it.

At this point Beatie came over to say their furniture van had arrived, it was outside her mother's house. The driver was going to come later on when we were finished to put it outside No.3. We told her there was only the sofa and two armchairs to bring across and that was the lot. When I had got up that morning I had fed our cat Micky. Mum said it was a silly thing to do as I should have waited till last and taken him over to No.2 to feed him then he would know where his home was. No one had seen him all the time we had been moving things so Mum told me to go and look for Micky while Dad and my brother brought the rest of the furniture. They had taken the two armchairs over and where standing in the hallway with the sofa when the air-raid sirens
went. Dad said not to mind about the cat, shut the door and hurry up. They were just outside the gate with the sofa when there was the most awful droning of aeroplanes and one of the planes came screeching down low dropping 'things'.

Dad and Ted let go of the sofa and ran towards No.2 Mum was at the door shouting something to me but I could not hear for the noise. All of a sudden something came flying out of a house all alight and landed in the road. I ran across . Dad told mum and me to get under the stairs. Then shouted to Ted to fill something up with water as incendiary bombs were dropping . The noise of the planes overhead was frightening and went on for some time. When it quietened down a bit they went and retrieved the sofa. Mr Cook from No.9 came out looking for his wife who had gone shopping. He told us he had been lying on the bed and as it was where he had pulled the top half of his window right down.

Suddenly an incendiary bomb had come right through the open window and
landed at the side of him on top of the eiderdown. He had scooped the whole lot
up and thrown it out of the window.

It wasn't long before we heard the planes againand the noise they were making
made us realize there was a lot of them. They passed over our heads so we knew
they were heading towards the Thames and the docks again. Suddenly a lot of
explosions could be heard. The house was shaking. Then there was a banging on
the door and all of Beatie's family came rushing in. Zenith's garage was in
Commercial Road adjoining their home and was on fire; all the petrol was
catching alight. It must have been about an hour before the firemen came as they
had so many fires to put out that day and could not cope with everything. They
unrolled the hoses and joined them to a hydrant but there was not enough pressure.
By this time the flames from the garage were higher then the houses, and there
was nothing the firemen could do.

Apart from Beatie and her husband, her parents, Mr & Mrs Farrow, their two sons,
and their daughter Ivy and husband Fred lived further up the street. They were all
sitting on the stairs or on the floor in the passage away from any flying glass as the
planes were still coming over. Mr & Mrs Farrow were wolrying about their home.
Their sons rushed over there and starting bringing what they could over to our
house. We made a chain passing small items along. We were stacking them in
our two rooms. The van with all Beatie's home in it was in the way of the
firemen. Someone must have had a key but could not drive it, so my dad who
could ran over and took it further along the street. The firemen by this time had
found some water and wanted to get to the back of the fire. The only way they
could do this was by going through one of the houses in Belgrave Street. As we
still had the key to No.3 Beatie said let them go through there. Some of the hoses
had leaks in them and were sprouting water everywhere.

The sky towards the river was dark red. There were still explosions coming from
Zeniths Garage . The A.R.P wardens came along banging on all the doors saying
we could not stop in our homes as unexploded bombs were all around. They
recommended we try to get in one of the deep shelters on the other side of
Commercial Road. It was impossible as everyone was running over there too.
Fred went up to his house to see if everything was alright there. When he returned
he said he had found somewhere we could go. At the bottom of his garden on the
other side of the fence was a brick building . He had climbed over and found it
was open. It stood in what used to be the old rope walks. There were two old
armchairs inside also two work-benches. Some of the men went to look at it and
felt it was the best we could do for the night. We all climbed over the fence with
our pillows and blankets, and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. There
was no light or windows in the building. Fred went back to his house and brought
some candles. He was also putting two deckchairs and a basket chair over the
fence.
We all made ourselves as comfortable as possible. Some slept in the chairs while
others made themselves a bed on the concrete floor. Dad made his bed on top of
one of the workbenches. Mum and I slept underneath. Next morning we returned
home. It was only then that we realized what a dangerous place we had been
sleeping in. The building had been a store for paints and all sorts of inflammable
materials and could have gone up like a bomb.

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