大象传媒

When the War began Vonda (or Fay as she is better known) was 24 years old. When she was 25 she married Frederic Charles, Born in Newport he was a seaman - A radio operator. They lived in Pill in Irene Terris, Build by her Grandfather in the 1850's Irene was the name of the precious sailing ship. Sailing had been handed down in the family as Fay's father also took up the tradition. When he was 6 his mother died and as a young boy, only 11 years old he joined the pilot boats peeling potatoes for the sailers meals. Fay's husband was away from home a lot, he even went on a very dangerous mission to the occupied Malta to feed the starving people. He was often away for 18 months at a time and at one time when one of Frederic's ships was Blown-up he lost all of his possetions. Luckily he survived.

9 Months and 10 days after Fay was married her first child was born. Having a young girl in the middle of the war was very hard for Fay. They were in thick of fighting but rations were also in place. Fay had to walk all of the way to St. Georges from Pill just to get 3 pence worth potatoes to feed her young family.

Not only was Fay alone, with Fredric away for very long periods at a time, but there were also the threats of the Bombs to deal with. Pill Church was burnt and ships were continually being destroyed in Filton. To protect them from these terrifying threats Fay had a shelter in the bottom of the garden, when they were in there the house used to shake.
When Fay thinks back upon the war there are happy memories - people always pulled together, when the war finished people were dancing in the streets - Fay was one of the people dancing, but these memories are overshadowed by the tradgedy of death. Fay's cousins went to war before they had turned 17 - they went to Dunkirk. A woman she knew lost all three of her sons to the tradgedy of war.

Now Fay's son is one of the last Pill pilots - carrying on the legacy of Fay's family.

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