大象传媒

'We lived in Kemberton at the start of the war with Mum, Dad and our two brothers. We used to go about in a convoy of two tandems and two bicycles though we'd sometimes get lost becasue of course all the signs had been removed. Dad said to us if we did ever get really lost 'just keep turning right and you'll get back to where you started eventually.'' The family moved to Madeley after a little while to be closer to their grandparents.

When the war started, Joan (the eldest child) and one of her brothers were staying with Gran in Oswestry. We could not get back to Madeley on the train that day because it was full of evacuees coming from Liverpool to stay in the area. Winnie (the youngest) remembers how she had to go to school 'in shifts', a half day for the local children and the other half for the evacuees. Although quite a lot of the evacuees from London went back home after quite a short time, many of the Liverpudlians stayed and became part of village life. Gran took some Londoners, but they didn't stay long at all.

The sisters remember two ladies from the village who lived next door to each other and who said that they definitely did not want an evacuee to be billetted with them. Still, they who went to the village hall just to see what was going on. Two brothers needed a home, so those ladies each came back home with a new house guest. One of the boys ended up marrying a local girl during the war and stayed. The sisters also remember several of the evacuees who lost their parents during the bombing raids and who ended up staying with their host families. Some mothers, whose homes had been bombed in Liverpool came to Madeley and Kemberton to rejoin their children and settled after the war.

Joan and Winnie remember being issued with their gas maskas and identity cards. 'A young lady came to our house to issue the cards. She arrived quite late - she must have had trouble finding us because we lived up a long lane. we both remember our ID numbers - we were numberred in sequence from oldest to youngest!' They both had air raid practise at school although they don't recall ever actually having to carry out the drill for real. 'All the same, Dad made us all fold their clothes very neatly each night before they went to bed so that everyone would be able to get dressed quickly in the dark if they needed too. No electric lights in the house then - just gas and oil lamps'. Winnie - the tomboy of the family - used to play in the shelters after the war (though Joan never knew about that until today!)

'We both remember standing at the bottom of the garden and watching the bombs falling like rain over Wolverhampton. We could see the flashes and explosions from where we stood'.

Joan and Winnie's parents worked for the war effort. Dad was partially sighted but this did not stop him from joining the Home Guard. However, it was said in some parts of the village that the Germans would never get past the Bottom End of Madeley because of the number of poachers' guns in the woods!

'Mum worked for Klingers Gaskets in Coalbrookdale (in the old china factory). She made asbestos gaskets, metal mess tins and ammo cases. She had to make sure the mess tins were soldered neatly on the corners so that the food would not leak out. All the work she did was strictly kept 'shush'. Mum is now 103 and very much loved. She got her telegram from the Queen on her 100th birthday - it was a good job that the postman arrived on time with it or she'd have given him what for!'

While the war was on, Joan and Winnie didn't really travel far from Madeley at all. 'We didn't really know the news from the next village even since everyone knew not to talk to much - 'careless talk costs lives' we were taught at school. We once cycled past RAF Cosford and we saw how all the hangars had been disguised, some by a painted facade that looked like a row of houses or a small village, others had been covered in turf so that they looked like bumps in the ground. Our brother told us that you weren't allowed to stop and look because you could be arrested for spying, so we kept our heads down and cycled on. We were very scared we'd be caught.'

'Even if you'd wanted too, you couldn't really take any photos because film was very hard to get hold of and all supplies were taken to be used by the military'.

'There were some shelters built in Madeley but we didn't use them much - only for school air-raid practice. A big shelter was built on the Miners' Welfare Recreation Ground. It was very solidly built by the miners themselves and all sorts of things were used as pit-props. Joan saw someone take in an old bedstead for the purpose. Only families of the miners who had built the shelter were allowed into it - it was a very strict door policy!'

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