大象传媒

Staffordshire County Council libraries, on behalf of the author, have submitted this story. The author fully understands the rules and regulations of the People's War website.

I was eleven years old when war broke out. I went to the Orme school. There, we were divided into four teams. We all knitted socks, scarves and helmets and we all got points for each one we made. I remember, I should have started school on 17th September but was delayed for a while. Then we just went on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays one week and then Tuesdays and Thursdays the second week. Until they built shelters on the playground, we used to go under the stone staircases inside the school when the air raid sirens sounded. It was more hair-raising having to go across the school playground to reach them!
I remember when the plane came over that dropped the bombs on Chesterton, my brother was sitting at a bus stop waiting for a bus and he just watched it go over!
My mother took on an evacuee from Liverpool. He was only six years old wh he came and my mum took over looking after him at the new year because he had a cold and my mum said he wasn't well enough to go back to where he was staying with my aunt and uncle. He ended up staying with us for about twenty months. By the time he went home he had about four times as many clothes as when he arrived. He loved cats so we got him one. When he was going home, we got as far as the station and the cat escaped, so we all ran around looking for it!!

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