大象传媒

In 1942 my mum's brother married the girl he met in Dover at a church in Colchester. Later on she went down to see him where he was stationed and her family back in Dover. The family were having to shelter in the caves in the cliffs. Her sister was heavily pregnant with her daughter at the time. When my grandma in Colchester opened the door to let my aunt in she found them both standing there. That baby was born in Colchester and is a little older than my cousin who was born in November 1943 to my aunt.

By the middle of the war my mum was only allowed to work for the morning at her usual job in service. During the afternoon she worked in the same factory as her sister knocking up papers on two sides to straighten their edges and they were then glued to form pads. When somebody new joined the factory they were usually fairly soon sent to the stores to ask for some "skyhooks".

In 1943 my mother became pregnant with me and ordered a pram from a local shop. After a wait she was notified at the end of February 1944 that the pram had come in and was ready for collection. She walked into town after work to collect it and pushed it back home in the dark. She had to walk up and down at least three hills some of which were long and fairly steep. That night the sky to the south of Colchester was lit up with flames because the factories and shops around St Botolph's Station had been set alight by fire bombs and the shop where my pram had been earlier was burnt down. In the blackout my mum's sister came off her bike and broke her wrist so while she was at home in the evening she made me a rag doll, complete with a doll's mask sewn on for the face. This allowed her to exercise her wrist and allowed it to get stronger.

I was soon to join the other two babies in the house. My dad's homeguard unit was on guard at Weeley railway bridge just outside Clacton the night before I was born. That night in May 1944 there were about 17 other babies born at the maternity hospital in Lexden road. The nurses gave mum something to slow down my birth so I was not born until quarter past two the next day. My mum shared a room right at the top of the building with a lady whose husband was away in the forces and unable to get to visit her. Dad was able to come and see me but vistors were only allowed in the evening and then only fathers were allowed in. Mum stayed in the hospital for 14 days.

When mum took me home the house had three young babies in it all under 18 months old. By now a morrison shelter had been installed in the house and grandma used to order all mums breastfeeding babies to go into the shelter with them if the siren sounded. Grandma was always very wary about having my father's homeguard rifle standing ready in the hall at the bottom of the stairs and by the front door. I guess she thought guns and crawling babies were not a good mix.

Less than a month after my birth my mum's brother was sent overseas. The D Day landings had taken place and he had to drive a lorry loaded with supplies over a few days later. To keep up their spirits during the war the letters and parcels which travelled between them often contained a homemade, padded pot or kettle holder. This was shaped like a bird and was meant to be used to hold the handles of pans, kettles, and teapots which were often made of metal then and got hot when used. It was sent with birthday cards and presents or in normal letters but nobody in the family let on to each other who was holding the bird. Like that you never knew whether it was likely to turn up in your mail or who might send it. It might just get passed from one member of the family in the house. For safety and to prevent the address of the family falling into enemy hands one day my uncle went outside the quartermaster's stores in which he was working to burn some private letters and a lone sniper up a tree fired at him. Fortunately he missed and my uncle quickly went back inside.

Mum described my father taking part, as a member of the homeguard, in a parade which marched down Colchester High Street to the tune of "Colnel Bogey" the band conducted by a small man standing on a box. She said the irons on their boots created sparks as they marched. Was this possibly a victory parade at the end of the war.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.