大象传媒

My Grandpa Donald Ross, was born on the 31st of October 1935. He lived in Paisley, in Scotland, with his parents and younger sister Isobel, in a large building called a tenement. Four other families lived in the building along with them. Whenever the air raid sirens went off my Grandpa grabbed his most treasured items(which were his cat and his stamp album), put on his siren suit(which was a fleece and suit all in one), and his gas mask(which he always carried with him) to an Anderson shelter where they stayed until the all clear sirens had sounded.
The shelter was made from corrugated iron and was burried deep in the ground. There was a long row of shelters where the gardens used to be and there was one shelter for each of the tenement buildings. There were no railings around the gardens anymore because they had been taken away to help the war effort. The railings were used to help make munitions.

In 1942 , at the age of seven years old, my grandpa was evacuated to Stockmoor, near Huddersfield, in Yorkshire to live with his Aunt Annie and Uncle Victor. Stockmoor was a small village with only one street and one shop which was a huge difference to the life he was accustomed to in Paisley! My Grandpa had an address label on his coat when he was evacuated because he had to travel alone on a train to get to Stockmoor as his parents did not want him to get lost. My grandpa stayed in Stockmoor for six months and he even went to school there. The school in his home town Paisley was also open.

His Aunt had a friend who had lived in India and when she came home, she brought back a pet tiger. She lived in a big house just outside the village and my grandpa would often go to visit her. The tiger was full grown(about the size of a shetland pony) and she would let him ride on the tiger's back. He usually played games like rounders, kick the can and football to entertain himself. He sometimes went with the milkman on a horse and cart and shouted "milko" everywhere they stopped.

It was a very different life for my grandpa but he thought it was a brilliant one and he was treated well because he was a young child away from his mum during a war.

Written by Peter Norris aged 11 from information supplied by his Grandfather Mr Donald McQueen Ross.

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