大象传媒

Billy and Bob sat on cushions at school to protect their legs from the irons worn because of rickets. They were best in class though in the goose step competition.

Picking up the shrapnel was a morning joy for the children seeing who could find the biggest, hottest, sharpest etc. No fears here, just a big adventure.

Sylvie鈥檚 Mum, Doris, rushes in from the cold turning round and lifting her skirt to warm up her behind. All the boys fight over the fireside chair to enjoy the view.

The seven year old is a real soldier with rifle at the ready and bayonet fixed. He scours the important Mogden Sewage works area with sharp eyes while the home guard has a cigarette. The boy finishes his five-minute shift completing the picture with a drag on the butt.

A bomb drops on Gillette鈥檚 factory in Brentford. All the children are brought together in the school hall and told to go straight home. The mothers hear the explosion, see the smoke, in direct line with the school. A wall of panic stricken mothers meets the children who are gleefully running home. They see the children through the mist of their watery eyes and scoop the puzzled youngsters up with joy. Smother the embarrassed children with kisses. Perhaps it is time to evacuate.

And so Bill鈥檚 family, Mum three brothers and a sister go to their Dad鈥檚 Welsh family council home in Dowlais Top. Uncle Gordon moves out to share with another relative and Minnie and her four children have one bedroom while Mrs Taylor and her two have the other.

The two previous winners of the goose step competition shed their leg irons in Wales and learn to run and play with the rest of the children. It is difficult to imagine that irons actually held them back in the first place.

The 鈥楧amn Vaccies鈥� in Dowlais soon pick up the language and as quickly unlearn it as it was scrubbed from their tongues with carbolic soap.

The stream with it鈥檚 rainbow colours darting in the black liquid is much more interesting and fun than the plain old clear water of streams in Isleworth. Caused by the steelworks in Dowlais, could this have been the yet unknown word, pollution?

Whilst playing on the 鈥榦ut of bounds鈥�, grass covered slopes. With a roar the devil opens up the side of the mountain and reaches out his hot fiery fingers to eke out some punishment, and threatening to engulf the children. They scamper home at some speed to blurt out the devils intentions, to be told, 鈥淚t鈥檚 the slag heap鈥� and 鈥淒on鈥檛 play there!鈥�

The dampness of the privy in the garden attracts frogs. Mrs Taylor always sends one of the boys out to remove any offending animals. They always do the opposite and put a frog in a strategic place. Mrs Taylor becomes the subject of much hilarity as she leaps out of the privy running down the path with knickers around her ankles.

One day Bob discovers he is blind in one eye. He jumps off a wall only expecting to fall two feet. He breaks an arm when the drop is discovered to be nine feet. He learns to live with it and later gets into the Merchant Navy by covering the same eye twice in the sight test.

The pit ponies are left to scavenge at night. There is no sleep the night before bin collection day. All around the town the streets take their turn as the distant clattering of dustbins comes relentlessly closer. This is followed by the free-range pigs usually found by the stream at the bottom of the road.

A parcel from Father in Canada arrives for the Matthews family. The whole street and beyond gather to share the spoils. Clothes are passed onwards and downwards until as many as possible have new to them clothing.

The war over, summer saw Billy and Bob scampering over or rather under the railway bridge in Richmond. They could often be seen scaling the iron girders sometimes leaping into the murky waters of the Thames and sometimes stealing the squeakers from the pigeon鈥檚 nests to take home and breed for pets. Always shivering with teeth chattering as the trains passed over their heads.

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sara Stringer of the CSV Action Desk at 大象传媒 Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Bill Matthews and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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