大象传媒

This story is submitted by a volunteer on behalf of Radio Bristol Action Desk at City of Bristol College.

At the outbreak of war I was living in Cumberland Basin opposite the Nova Scotia pub and was there all through the Blitz. Because the men that operated the bridge had special information when the sirens went warning of a raid we'd learn from them whether it was a yellow alert or red or purple. The purple one being the most likely to be a bombing in our area. With a red or a purple they opened the swing bridges the road and the railway so they would not be blocking the docks. We had an Anderson shelter which we used on occasions just down from the house. I remember sitting out a number of raids there, one in particular sticks in my memory when there were thousands of incendiary bombs dropped and a good dozen or more landed in front of our house and remember going out with my father and next door neighbour and kicking them into the water, one in fact came through the roof of our next door neighbour, we went up into the bedroom poked a hole in the ceiling, drop it to the floor and we were able to extinguish it. On another occasion I remember an unexploded bomb falling in the pavement immediately outside of the Nova Scotia. I went over as an inquisitive teenager and watch them dig down and disarm it before it had a chance to creep underneath the building. I had one of the bombs fins as a souvenir. Unfortunately my mother wouldn't let me keep it and insisted it be thrown away. Likewise two incendiary bombs complete with fins which had not exploded which I then cleaned up and kept until my mother found them.
After the Good Friday Blitz in 41 I had the opportunity to be evacuated from Cotham school (my school) to Cornwall, St Austell where I stayed for just a year to take my school certificate. Whilst there the school ran an evacuees dancing class and it was there that I met my wife to be who had been evacuated from Merrywood. I returned that summer but my "girlfriend" stayed there for another three years. On coming back to Bristol I started working Wills in Bedminster. I decided to leave the scouts although I had been a member and patrol leader for many years and joined the A.T.C as my ambition was to be air crew in the fleet air arm and I thought by doing so I would have a better chance of getting in. I volunteered for the fleet air arm in 1943 but was too young so I volunteered again in 1944 and was eventually called up at the end of that year. I started training at air crew and in February 1945 the happiest day of my life I soloed in a Tiger Moth. We were about to go overseas to finish our training when VE day came along while I was stationed at Gosport and unfortunately on duty that night so was unable to join in the festivities. Unfortunately again the powers had decided that they didn't need aircrew a month of so afters wards and on VJ day I was released.

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