大象传媒

Note: This story has been entered by a volunteer on behalf of Delphine Higgs. The author has seen and agreed to the People's War House Rules.

Following the first Air Raid, my Aunty Win and Uncle Bert had come to stay with us as Aunty was too nervous to remain on her own when Uncle was working nights at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. After the First Blitz, it was decided we would all be safer at her house in Bromley Road, Ashley Down and take the bus in and out to town every day. We all slept in the cellars there which were at back garden level. During the following Blitz鈥檚 we took shelter in the garden Anderson Shelter and were there when the gasometer down Muller Road in Eastville was hit and blew up. A bomb also dropped in Brent Road which wasn鈥檛 far from the corner of Springfield Avenue. Apart from sleepless nights, it was much more peaceful and we felt protected when we heard Purdown Percy blast off鈥� gunfire not bombs. During those cold nights a special little field mouse would come into our shelter, run along the angle iron at the end over the paraffin fire and sit up and seem to warm itself We became good friends and saved it a bit of crust from our midnight snacks.

By this time my school had been burnt down with the rest of Castle Street and our town, so no school for a while. Alternative accommodation was soon found in the old Redcross Street School, near Old Market. I鈥檒l never forget the unsympathetic attitude of one teacher there. We had been up most of the night with another Blitz, I met the usual school chums on the bus stop but there were no buses, the Grosvenor Road area and St. Pauls had taken the brunt of the raid and the roads were impassable. We all set off walking down Ashley Hill towards Old Market and arrived about half and hour late. To our dismay we were met by an irate teacher and told we should leave home earlier in order to arrive on time. I鈥檇 always got on well with teachers and that one was the first to whom I mentally gave a 鈥渂lack mark鈥�. Afterwards, we discovered she drove away from Bristol at night and slept out beyond Long Ashton.

A few weeks passed and we arrived at Redcross Street to find that classes had been suspended as the school had been damaged the previous night. I went inside to have a look around and upstairs there were great gaps in the roof and lots of machinery, long metal poles and twisted lengths of metal were scattered all over the Hall. A land mine had dropped at the back of Old Market and the blast had sent a lot of biscuit making machinery through the air to land in our school.

It amazes me now to realise how many dangerous places I visited at that time. Earlier, the morning after the first Blitz I had walked along the Welsh Back with my mother, under the hoses that were playing on the burning buildings. We went around the corner into Baldwin Street and an unexploded bomb went off in the devastated Bridge Street. We dived on to the floor in a sweet shop near St. Nicholas Church. It was only natural that we wanted to see what had happened during the night before and to remain in our home was just as dangerous. It鈥檚 surprising what you can get used to!

Once again school was postponed until repairs were made. By this time Bristol was not regarded as a neutral city and children were being evacuated. There was now talk of the whole school being evacuated and eventually it was. The school, and most of the pupils went to Clevedon.

About this time my Uncle Fred found us two bedrooms in Oaklands Road, Mangotsfield, by the Church and we jumped at the opportunity. We were quite near the gun emplacement on Rodway Hill but they did not disturb us, we slept in beds. We had quite a long walk night and morning to reach the bus depot at Staple Hill at the end of the shops but it was well worth it. Unfortunately, at that time I became ill but the landlady was very kind and allowed mother and Ito stay in the bedroom until I recovered. A very nice lady, she even gave us some eggs for breakfast and vegetables from her small holding at the end of the road. When I recovered she took us to see her vegetables and fruit bushes growing and we fed the chickens 鈥� I thought she had a lovely life.

Another Uncle, Reg Durston, knew of our plight and he helped us. This Aunt and Uncle had lived in Fairfield Road, Montpelier and Uncle helped with the injured in the First Aid Post under Fairfield School. His employers premises had been bombed and they had transferred their workshops to Bath so Uncle decided to move. We were offered to share this property in Southdown Road and again we jumped at the chance. Bath would never be bombed as it was a place of world historic interest. Apart form the Admiralty, who had taken over all the large buildings, Bath still seemed to be out of the war, all was peaceful.

My health had improved so I tried to become a pupil of Bath West Central School and it was there that I met the second school teacher I disliked. This teacher insisted that I wear suitable PT kit, which I hadn鈥檛 brought with me. Dad was still travelling by bus and train then walking to our war damaged shop in Sussex Street, I was asking him to find certain school books and Gym clothes but the place was so upside down it was difficult. This second unpleasant school teacher became very angry with me and told me that I needed 鈥淎 Bomb Behind Me鈥�. She earned my ~ black mark鈥�.

Thank goodness, fate was with me and almost immediately Bristol Education Committee sent a letter to say I should report to Bath Technical College for the coming Autumn Term. The Admiralty had taken over the school building, and we had to take lessons in various other places, but my form room was in Manvers Street Baptist Chapel. Like E.B.C.S. this was a marvellous school and I was HAPPY!

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