大象传媒

My dad was born within the sound of Bow Bells so he was a true Cockney. We were a happy family, poor but happy. Everyone was poor in those days but everyone was friendly towards one another.

I was 16 when the blitz started in 1940. My sister and I went to the Odeon cinema near the Isle of Dogs, and the place was shaking from the bombing. We had never known anything like it before so we didn鈥檛 know what was going to happen. A sign came on the screen which asked us to leave the cinema and go to the nearest shelter. We went to the nearest shelter, which was packed, and we all sat side by side on a hard stool. When the raid was over we came out and walked along the river. The boats were on fire and the factories were on fire.

We lived in Silvertown which consisted of 6 rows of streets and at the top of these streets were factories of all different sorts. One of them was a German factory and that used to have explosions and during those times we had to run. Always after the raids the Salvation Army used to come and they were marvellous.

Next door but one to use lived a couple who had a 10 year old son who was evacuated. His mother missed him so much she had him back. As me and my sister walked along with Bob, the man from next door but one, who was on his way home from work, someone came up to him and told him that his wife and son had been killed.

When we reached where our houses were supposed to be there was nothing. We started crying because we thought our mum and dad had been killed too. We were directed to a nearby school and were told that some of the people from Silvertown had gone there. They wouldn鈥檛 let us into this school because it was too full but sent us to another school along the road. We found our mum in this other school and were very relieved but we couldn鈥檛 find our dad. Our dad was working as a clerk at the Arsenal and our brothers were in the forces. Whilst we were at the school someone approached my mum and said that he didn鈥檛 want to worry her but the Arsenal had received a direct hit and that nobody had come our alive. Three days later our dad found us, he had been wandering about looking for us and thought we had been killed and we thought he had been killed. He was alright and our brothers were all alright 鈥� God was on our side that day.

My mum was in the air raid shelter when the bomb struck our house and my dad was in a part of the Arsenal which was not hit. Although they said no one walked out of the Arsenal after the direct hit and a lot were killed but not everyone; at such times there are a lot of rumours flying around.

After our house had been bombed we were separated from our neighbours and never saw Bob again. We were put in billets in other people鈥檚 houses in Ongar in Essex, and they were horrible to us. The people we were with received money for having us. They had 3 evacuee boys and they were awful to these poor boys, they had them in tears and were always shouting at them. Our mum loved children and she told the lady off and then the lady would have a go at our mum. I spoke up and said 鈥淒on鈥檛 you dare say that to our mum, she鈥檚 a lovely woman better than you will ever be鈥�. I wasn鈥檛 having her speaking to our mum like that because our mum was smashing.

We moved next door to stay with a foreign lady who was lovely to our mum. We had to go and work in a factory in Chelmsford which was 12 miles away. We had to get up at 6 o鈥檆lock in the morning and catch a bus at 6.30 a.m. We caught the bus back at 6 o鈥檆lock at night. In the factory we had to couple wires, solder them and put them in coils for 拢1 per week. We had to give some to our mum for our keep so we didn鈥檛 have much. We were happy though and had enough to get us to the pictures on a Sunday night and this cost us 4d.

In the end we were allotted a house and that was marvellous. We were so pleased for our mum. Our dad was still travelling backwards and forwards to the Arsenal. My one brother was sent to the Far East and we did cry about this but when the war was over and he came home there were more tears from us all. Both of our brothers survived the war. We didn鈥檛 have much but we were a happy family.

It was a very traumatic time. I got friendly with a Welsh girl in Cheltenham. She was going out with an American solider. In those days you didn鈥檛 carry on with an American soldier, only the common sort did that, although my friend wasn鈥檛 common.

VE day was when I met my husband, Bill. We had parties in the street and we had a big bonfire. I went to the pub with my mum and dad as I was 21 then, when in walked these two RAF men. One of them, Bill, looked straight at me as asked if I wanted a drink. We were married in the January following VE day and moved to Worcester. I had a very happy marriage of 55 years and 2 children.

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