大象传媒

I remember Chamberlain announcing over the radio 'The country is at war with Germany', on the 3rd of September 11pm, 1939. Immediately after air-raid sirens went off for two minutes.

During air-raids, nights spent in a make-shift shelter under the stairs. Occasionally I accompanyed my father to spot the German bombers overhead on their way to bomb Liverpool (you could always recognise the German aeroplanes, they had a different sound from the English aeroplane). I remember watching the search lights criss-crossing the sky-with the occasional plane being caught in their beams and the bombing of Liverpool.

Another memory is listening to propoganda programmes on the radio from Germany - intended to break the moral of the British public. We thought they were quite amusing at times and not all demoralising. Also ever Sunday night all the national anthems of the allied countries were played on the radio.

All the iron railings were taken down and used for the war effort.

We always had to carry our gas masks with us wherever we went - they were in a card board box with a long cord attached enabling us to carry it over our shoulder.

Food and clothing were rationed. Food rationing was still part of our life when I got married in 1951. Some brides during the war used parachute silk to make their wedding dresses. We had an orchard, this meant my mother received extra sugar to make jam and bottle fruit.

Living in the country meant we had our quota of refugees from the cities. These children were evacuated to the safety of the country.

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