大象传媒

34 鈥� Rosemary Davies ( born in 1932) was evacuated to Stratford when she was seven:

鈥淚 can only remember my parents telling me that we were now at war, and it didn鈥檛 really mean a lot to me. I thought it was going to be one battle and it would be all over, that was my impression of a war.
We got quite a lot of close bombing in Birmingham, because at the bottom of the road where I lived was Forman鈥檚 Road, and the Joseph Lucas factory was there, and so of course the bombs would be aiming for the factory, and quite a few hit Runnymede Road; we lived at the top end by Shaftmoor Lane, so we never got hit. But I remember the thrill of being got up in the night to go down to the Anderson shelter, because once I had been sent to bed that was it, you didn鈥檛鈥ever attempted to come downstairs. I was never afraid, that was due to my parents, it was all fun really, you would come down and see the searchlights and the noise, the sirens going off, and then you would hear the shrapnel, and鈥� We always wanted to get out of the shelter, but that wasn鈥檛 allowed either. In the morning of course we would go round picking up the shrapnel and they were quite treasures: I don鈥檛 really know what I thought they were, I just knew it was shrapnel.

It did get very bad, and at one stage Birmingham was without water, and so the school was evacuated to Loughborough, and my brother and I were both evacuated together. That was a very unhappy time, we weren鈥檛 treated well; I can understand you know people just having children thrust upon them really, and not wanting us. But that was a very unhappy time and so my brother said鈥�, well he kept writing home and saying we鈥檙e going to walk if you don鈥檛 come and fetch us, and so eventually mother came with an aunt of mine and fetched us home, and that was quite a memorable train journey, because of course there were no names on the stations, and I can remember my mother kept putting her head out at the station鈥�, where are we? And then you didn鈥檛 have to ask when we eventually got into Birmingham because it was such a big station, New Street.

And getting out of the train, I can remember my brother raising his arm and shouting I will never leave Birmingham ever again! But he鈥檚 travelled widely since.

(At Loughborough) they had two children of their own, and I had to share a bed with the girl and a boy, there were three of us in one bed, and every time at night you could hear the planes going over, and the children would say, oh, they are going to kill your mommy and daddy tonight, which was very upsetting, and I don鈥檛 think I had realized that they could get killed until then, because they had never shown any fear, or you know, allowed us to feel afraid, so that was just one of the instances why we were unhappy there.

When I came to Stratford as an evacuee I had to leave and go home to Birmingham towards the end to take the examination for going to Yardley Grammar School. I stayed with friends of my parents, Mr and Mrs Chillingworth of 226 Loxley Road 鈥� you know you just never forgot their name or address, and to me they were Aunty Les and Uncle Gertie. [Is this right? 鈥� Ed.] I remember my uncle was a very, very tall man. They had no children of their own, and he worked in Union Street, and I believe he worked for a coal merchants but in the office, and I remember going in to see him there, and he was sitting on one of these very, very high stools at a desk, very sort of well, now I think of it, Dickensian, although it was obviously the 1940s.

I went to school, which is now Scholars Court, and I remember that very well because it was quite a long way to go from the end of Loxley Road, and I used to catch the bus down to the old Stratford Blue bus station, and then walk up. And I can remember it was in the winter because I remember it being cold and I鈥檇 always, even as a child, used to feel cold, and there was a heater; I don鈥檛 know whether it was coke or what, and it was in the middle of the schoolroom, and I used to try and sit as near this as I could, so I used to keep warm, that I remember very well. I have no memories (of the teachers) at all 鈥� I think I was only there really a short time before going to grammar school in Birmingham.

I do remember coming on holiday several times, because I developed this love of Stratford as a child, and being taken for walks across the fields and seeing the horses and all the animals, from being in town it was such a contrast and I was so happy, and they had a dog, Sally, which is very nice and so I loved taking Sally for walks, and my one memory of that 鈥� I was here when VE Day occurred, and I was upstairs in bed, and I can鈥檛 remember鈥�, you know, I mean what time I went to bed, I have no idea, and I was woken up with this terrific noise of shouting and singing and jollification, and my aunt came in to me and she said don鈥檛 worry she said, all this noise 鈥� but the war in Europe is over, and it鈥檚 all the Americans [Canadians] from Wellesbourne that are coming down into town making this noise. And of course as I say I was spoilt, because she then said would you like Sally the dog to keep you company tonight? And Sally was never allowed upstairs, so she came up and shared my bed and I was very happy. Those are about my only memories of wartime Stratford.鈥�

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