大象传媒

Life in the Anderson shelter became the norm for the storyteller, her mother and grandmother by 1944 as they sheltered from the V1 rockets. Dad was away fighting with the Eighth Army in Italy. The bunk beds were reasonably comfortable. Given the chance she would rather sleep in the shelter rather in the house.

They heard the engine of a V1 overhead cut out one day and assumed that this was the one that would hit them but the rocket glided on and hit a house about a quarter of a mile away.

The story teller remembers going to school in the morning and stopping to pick up a friend at 8:30 a.m. The blackouts were still up and they weren't allowed to open the curtains.

They were taught in a long brick shelter because of the danger from the bombs. There were two long benches to sit on along sides and the lady teacher taught at the end of the narrow room. There were twenty children in the class.

Father came home on leave during the war. The storyteller found this difficult to cope with as he was almost like a stranger having been away for so long. She was reluctant to cuddle him. There was no fear that he wouldn't return as he wasn't there very often so this didn't occur to her. When he finished his leave he forgot to take his rifle with him to the railway station and had to rush home to collect it. Dad was a dispatch rider with the Tank Corps.

Grandmother was a diabetic and so was given extra ration coupons. Some of these were used to purchase extra sweets and cheese. The storyteller was told how lucky she was to benefit in this way. The Street Party at
the end of the war saw the family get an extra treat. Her uncle worked at Croydon Airfield and managed to obtain bananas for the celebration!

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