大象传媒

My father had been in the Navy before the war started but had been invalided out when he got pneumonia and spent some time in hospital in Gibralter. I was born in April 1940 and my mother, father and grandparents lived in a 2-up/2-down cottage on Jane Street, Saltaire. My granfather worked at the Salts Mill, as had my mother before I was born. When I was about 2 years old, I believe, my grandfather died. In September 1943, my brother was born and I can remember the fuss I made because I was moved from my parents' room into my grandmother's room. By this time, my father was working on the railway at Shipley station.
Only about 2 weeks after my brother was born, we had to move out of the house, temporarily, because the radio/wireless, which was the accumulator type, caught fire during the night and during an air raid. My brother and I were passed over the adjoining wall to the next door house where we spent the remainder of the night whilst my mother and grandmother put out the fire as best they could. When my father returned home next morning, the air raid warden visited him and he was subsequently fined ten shillings for showing a light during an air raid. I remember a lot of this happening but some details are from what I was told at the time or later. From that day onwards, my mother refused to have a wireless in the house in case of a repeat occurrence.

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