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I was about six years old. My father, Charles Cook was in the RAF. I remember going into a little cupboard under the stairs when the bombing was particularly bad. Sometimes we used to go over the road to the school and get in the shelter there — it was Clifford Road Primary School.
All the shelters were built in the playground. Nobody had remembered they were there until about 5 years ago. The school were digging to build a swimming pool and they found it at the time! There were steps going down to the underground shelters. We were down there a few hours sometimes. We’d sing songs to keep us busy. We took biscuits and a flask sown with us. Boys and girls were altogether.
What sticks in my memory is that our toilets were outside the house. I remember going in the flower vase one day because the bombing outside was too bad.
If it was really bad in the night, say at 3am, I’d get up and go over to the shelter. Then the next day I’d have to get up for school. During the war I was an only child. My twin sisters were born when the war ended.

This story was submitted to the People's War website by a volunteer from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Essex on behalf of Jean Symonds and has been added to the site with her permission. She understands the sites terms and conditions.

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