大象传媒

This story is submitted by a volunteer on behalf of Radio Bristol Action Desk at City of Bristol College.

I lived in Bridgwater during the war - my dad had moved there from Coventry when British Cellophane started there. Through Toc H he made friends with Frank Gilliard although I only met him once.

Small convoys of tanks used to go along the road and there was an American laundry on the fair field. One morning the fence around it was decorated with inflated condoms - my mother told me to avert my eyes!

The soldiers on the tanks used to throw sweets and chewing gum out to us and one day a soldier threw a silver tin to us.
I was the only one brave enough to collect it from the gutter and took it home.
There was no label and I wouldn't let my mum open it so it was put in the cupboard in the garage with the salted beans and eggs in isinglass.

When the war ended we had a party and my mum decided it was time to open the tin.
She took one of those bull headed tin openers made of heavy metal and Dad struck it a mighty blow whereupon it exploded with atomic force and splattered rancid cheese over the ceiling and his precious Standard 10.
The smell was phenomenal and took weeks to get rid of. Dad also had to scrape the ceiling.

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