大象传媒

I was 7 when war broke out, but I remember the day it happened. I'd been to chapel with my family, and I can remember people being very het up and worried about what was to come. My father had a radio, and we must have listened to the announcement on his radio. The radio batteries were huge, and my father used to have to walk in to town to get them charged. My father went on to join the fire service, and from then on we had a huge fire bell in the house. Many local men signed up, and some, including Gwilym Evans, who owned the sweet shop, and joined the airforce, were never to return.
We had American soldiers billeted in Denbigh, many staying at the Town Hall. Some of them had cigarettes, and it was then that my husband started smoking (he's seven years older than me). For many people in such a small town, it was the first time we'd seen black people. Some of the Denbigh women were to later give birth to mixed race children.
Our family took in evacuees. In particular, we became close to one family- Marian, who was evacuated from London with her mother. They were able to have a bedroom and our front room, so they could live separate lives if they wanted to. Marian's mother and my mother became close, and Marian and I have stayed in touch til this day. I can still remember how nervous they got when the air raids happened- probably because of their experiences in the capital. We also took in two girls from Liverpool. I don't remember so much about them, but they went to Holly Lodge Grammar School in the city, so I think they went to Denbigh's private girls school, Howells, while they were staying with us.
We were relatively lucky in Denbigh. The only things we really had to worry about were the air raids and the rations. It was always a relief when we heard the all clear. Denbigh is only around 60 miles from Liverpool, so we often used to hear the German bombers droning overhead, on their way to the city. The anti-aircraft guns were on the moors nearby, and on one occasion, one of the bombers crashed only a few miles out of town. Some of the children, including my husband, went to the crash site out of curiosity, and to gather shrapnel.

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