大象传媒

When I was 9 in 1940, our town - Nelson - took bus loads of evacuees from Newton Heath in Manchester. As an only child, with Granny living with us, I had to share my room with "Edith", who was three months younger than me. She cried all night, sleeping on a camp bed dressed in a navy blue "siren suit". City children were given these suits to wear in air-raid shelters or Andersons in their back gardens.

When German bombers were coming, a siren wailed out, an up and down sound. In Nelson, we only heard it twice, then a continuous sound would go off, to tell us it was "all clear" .

It was January and snowy, and the local park lake always froze over and the local children would skate and slide on the ice. We locals always knew to watch out for thin ice when the pond was thawing, but one day Edith didn't see the cracks and fell through the ice. Edith couldn't swim, although I could, but the water was so cold. Luckily two men came to help us and got Edith out of the water.

I learned to share things with Edith, like a "proper" sister. Edith had two big sisters, although they didn't stay in Nelson for long. Her mother and aunt used to visit us by train to see her, but never brought any food or ration coupons - so my mother used to stretch our rations so Edith's mum and aunt could have a meal.

In 1942, a scarlet fever epidemic broke out. Hundreds of children were taken to a "fever hospital", in isolation, and were given a number to identify them - Edith was number 349. Each night the local paper - the Lancashire Evening Telegraph - printed children's numbers, together with their condition; "poorly", "satisfactory" or "recovering", and I used to look for her number to see how she was. Our room was fumigated and all her belongings were removed; clothes, bedding, even her teddy bear, and schools were closed and children kept indoors.

My granny moved to Blackpool; she was in a wheelchair and so needed a housekeeper, and this meant I could have her room. Edith was at the fever hospital for three weeks, and when she came home she was so pale and thin. She had a sore, scabby nose as no-one had given her a hanky, and the lavatory paper was so hard and scratchy. We all went to Blackpool for Wakes week in July with Mother by train, and stayed at granny's in Waterloo Road, on Blackpool's South shore.

My father got 2/6d per week for having Edith stay with us, and he saved this each week. When the time came for Edith to leave us, after three and a half happy years, my father gave Edith all the money he had saved as a leaving present.

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