大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Elizabeth Perez of Stockport Libraries on behalf of Marian Ryan and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

My memories are seen through the eyes of a child as I was eleven when the war started. We were old enough to know that it was very serious, but it was an adventure. We now carried our gas masks to school, the girls were taught how to knot scarves and mittens etc for the forces. We became 鈥渃ogs鈥� in the wheel, and each 鈥渃og鈥� led a group and we collected waste paper, aluminium, milk bottle tops and silver paper, and we collected halfpennies and pennies to buy comforts for the troops. Our parents ran savings groups, and we helped to sell savings stamps and savings bonds. My Dad was too old to be in the war, but he joined the Civil Defence, he was in the Decontam Group, trained to deal with gas if it was used. He also taught First Aid and Light Rescue with mock battles at weekends. During the week he had to go to work. There was no television so everyone went to the pictures to watch the news and because moral was important at the beginning of the war, we were never shown pictures of anyone dead, only the troops waving, smiling, singing along with Vera Lynn and other entertainers. The news nearly always finished with a row of battle ships sailing towards us reassuring and defiant, and as the Union Flag fluttered across the scene, we stood for the national Anthem. At school we sang patriotic songs, and uplifting hymns in church.

We did not have an air raid shelter as we did not have gardens, but the houses across the street had Anderson Shelters. One lady did not use hers as her husband was in the forces and she, not wanting to be alone, shared a shelter with one of her neighbours, so my Mother, my brother and myself used it along with the lady next door to us and her two sons. Her husband and the other men in our street became wardens and formed fire-fighting groups.

It was Christmas 1940, and with careful management Mum had been able to make a Christmas cake and she had decorated it with the precious icing sugar she had saved. My Dad had gone on duty to 鈥淲hite Mill鈥�, the sirens had sounded and we were sat waiting for our next door neighbour to knock on our wall to let us know they were ready to go over the road to the Anderson Shelter. We could hear the enemy planes overhead and then we heard a clatter on the roof slates. 鈥淭hat must be shrapnel on the roof, we must not rush outside just yet鈥�, said Mum. But it was an incendiary bomb, it came through the roof, then got stuck in the rafters, but we did not know this. The heat from one of these bombs was intense and it quickly spread across the ceiling above the staircase to the two bedrooms. As the rafters burned, the plaster ceiling gave way and fell into the bedroom. We heard that and rushed to open the door at the foot of the stairs to be faced with the blazing bedrooms. Mum pushed my brother into my arms and said 鈥淕et to the shelter鈥�, then she grabbed her two buckets of sand and water which we put ready every night and disappeared upstairs.

Looking back over the years, there are memories that make us laugh now, but were not funny at the time. That night when we left Mum, we went out of our back door. The elderly neighbours on the other side of us, had had an incendiary bomb also, but it had fallen through the scullery roof and landed behind his back door, and he pushed it out with a brush as my brother and I came outside. The old gentleman was piling his sand onto it and onto his smouldering carpet, while the old lady was standing near her gate shaking her fist at the planes over head and shouting 鈥淵ou swines, how dare you, you swines!鈥� When she saw us, she demanded 鈥淕et your Mother, we need help, get her quickly鈥�, but my young brother shouted back at her 鈥淣o, we have a bomb of our own and ours is bigger.鈥� As we ran to our other neighbour, her husband was just coming to see if we were alright, we told him that Mum was upstairs fighting the fire. He said 鈥淕o in to my wife, I鈥檒l go and help your Mum鈥�. I sent my brother into their house and shouted 鈥淚鈥檓 going for more help鈥�. I ran to several houses where I knew I would get help, then I ran back to our neighbour, who was fitting pans on the heads of the three lads. Our neighbour鈥檚 elderly brother arrived just then, saying that he would take us across to our shelter before joining the fire-fighters. As we attempted to cross the street, the planes overhead dropped more bombs, which landed down the middle of the street just feet away from us, showering us with sparks etc. Until then we had not had time to be frightened, but that was frightening. We about turned so quickly, we trampled on the poor man, but he said, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 go that way now, I will take you to a house with a cellar, my wife is there鈥�. That is where we stayed for the rest of the night.

Back at our home, the fire-fighting groups arrived almost as soon as my brother and I left. Mum was running back and fro with buckets of sand and water for the men. There were more of them now as ours was quite a big fire, and it had to be put out quickly because of the blackout and the enemy planes overhead. They now had four stirrup pumps, the sand had run out and people were digging up the front garden, putting it in buckets and using it instead of sand. Mum said while all this was going on, there was a banging on the front door; when she went to see what it was, a member of the Home Guard stepped in with is rifle at the ready and the bayonet fixed on, he was looking for the home of one of the Home Guard members, who had failed to report for duty, and did not seem to notice what was going on around him.

At last, it was over, the fires round about were all out. It was the first time all the local men had had to put all their training to the test and they had done wonderfully well; we were later told all the fires in our area were out in less than thirty minutes. When our fire was safely out, an official came and said it was his job to check and make sure there was no smouldering that could flare up again. The men tried to reassure him it was safe, but it was the first time he had had to do it and he wanted to get it right. He insisted on climbing into the roof space, and as most of the ceiling lats were burned through, the rest of the ceiling gave way and he crashed through and down the stairs. This gave Mum a shock as she thought we had got another bomb. The men now went back to their families and Mum went to the Anderson Shelter, only to find it empty. She was very worried about us and could not find us for a while, but one of the wardens helped her and she came to the cellar, where we were. We had not seen Mum since she went upstairs to fight the fire, and we all cried with relief and put our arms round Mum. She was filthy with the smoke and soil etc, her clothes were torn and burnt in places, and her face was black with streaks as her tears ran down and she sobbed 鈥淭he icing on the cake is black, it will have to be scraped off鈥�, and of course that made us all laugh.

After a while, the 鈥淎ll Clear鈥� went, and Dad returned home. We had no electric in the house, so we had lit candles. Seeing the candles when he got in, Dad said 鈥淗as there been some damage near us?鈥� Mum said, 鈥淵es, very near, go and look upstairs.鈥� Dad took a candle and went to look. The front garden was now in the bedrooms, you could see the bulbs we planted in the Autumn lying around, and little burnt shrubs and trees side by side with burnt wreckage and burnt bedding. Dad could not believe it. He said that while on duty, he had received a message saying his wife and children were safe, and so had some of the other members. He said he had been given the message, so he would not worry as the fires could be clearly seen from White Hill, but he never dreamt that we had been hit and was upset that he could not have been there for us. Mum had to go to the doctor鈥檚 the next day, she had lost her voice with all the smoke and her leg was badly burned, but she had not noticed it until later when her ordeal was over. Of course there were other air raid, but never one like that again for us.

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