大象传媒

I was eight when war was declared. My most vivid impression even as a child was the difference war made to every day life.

I lived on the Norris Green estate and the blackout was the first spectacular development, we had to prepare blinds and ensure that no light was alowed to escape from the house. Each road had traffic wardens. Soldiers were billeted in the church hall at the end of the road where I lived and I remember doing errands for the soldiers. This made a welcome addition to my pocket money.

Initially the schools were closed and then lessons were held in some of the children's homes, and there were two hour lessons twice a week. I recall on the first occasion the teacher asking my permission to smoke in the lounge of our home.

The outbreak of war was a very exciting time for a young boy. I used to watch the barrage balloons being launched from a site at the junction of Queens Drive and Cherry Lane. Another significant development at the beginning of the war was that Anderson shelters were built in the back gardens of all the houses.

I did not know of any children in the area who were evacuated and in fact evacuation was never mentioned. I understand that children who lived inside the ring road (Queens Drive) area were evacuated but nevertheless shelters were provided in all the other suburban areas beyond Queens Drive.

Primary school eventually resumed in full although activities at school throughout the war were seriously curtailed. There were no annual school camps. Materials were in short supply and there were no football jerseys, we used to wear coloured bands for football teams and even day trips were not undertaken because of the necessity to conserve fuel.

The May Blitz in Liverpool remains the most vivid memory of all. Whilst our family were sheltering in the Anderson shelter in the garden a stick of bombs fell nearby. I shall always remember the swishing sound as the bombs came down and I knew that they were coming at us. One bomb landed a short distance away at a house at the back of Townsend Avenue creating a very large crater and it fell directly on a shelter giving the family there no chance of survival.

Two other outstanding incidents were the ammunition train which was hit one night about a mile and a quarter away. The train was on an embankment and as the fire spread along the train each truck of explosives was blown up. There was enormous noise and vivid flames in the sky.

The other incident happened at the local shopping centre when a landmine hit the tramlines near Broadway, causing a shallow crater but an extensive blast which blew in the front of the four houses facing the junction. I remember my parents saying that the Jolly Miller was hit in Queens Drive and I went along to have a look at this.

The cinemas enjoyed a boom during the war and we used to travel on the trams sometimes in the blackout to various cinemas within reasonable travelling distance. There was very little traffic about in those days but in the blackout you could hear the tram coming and see the small shaded light at the front.

We also went into the city centre to look at the devastation of Lord Street, Paradise Street, South Castle Street and South John Street. There were large pipes at the side of the pavements carrying emergency water supplies.

I remember the Americans arriving and one day in Townsend Avenue some American soldiers on a tank threw sweets at me which was a grateful addition to my sweet ration.

My father used to do fire watching during the war, this involved on certain nights of the week to go along to your place of employment overnight to deal with any emergencies. He went to a printing works in South Castle Street and one night a pub nearby was hit by a bomb, there were a number of fatalities but fortunately although he had passed nearby shortly before he escaped injury.

One amusing memory I have is that we were playing hide and seek in Walton Hall Park and I am running into a shrubbery to hide, I was astonished to find a partly clad home guard soldier hiding there and I fell over him. Apparently unknown to us children the home guard were on manouvres in the park and under a volley of language we fled.

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