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This story was submitted to the People's war Website by Nina Davey on behalf of Harry Pilgrim, the author and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

In 1938 my parents opened Nansidwell as an hotel, despite the many difficulties of the time. It was a Sunday morning and we were in St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Falmouth when Father John Fanning, parish priest, announced that we were at war with Germany. Mass continued to the end and we went home to decide what had to be done. Orders of all sorts came from various Government departments, which my father carried out to the letter. First and foremost was the need for efficient blackout in so many areas, including road vehicles. Before various ‘add on’ designs were approved and manufactured we were to paint headlamp reflectors black. Vehicles had to be immobilized when left unattended and this was generally achieved by removing the distributor rotor arm. Most road signs were removed after Dunkirk and the few that were left in Cornwall often pointed the wrong way!

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