大象传媒

I was born and brought up in Tooting,South London in 1932. When I was aged about 7, I was evacuated to Braunton in North Devon, near Banstable. In fact one of my earliest memories at school is of going to school as normal, and then walking in a crocodile down Tooting High Street, to Tooting Junction Station.

I remember waiting in a school to be collected. The family I stayed with, the father worked in the local wood yard. In total there were five children there, all having to sleep in the same bed. One one occasion I lost a little motorbike. My brother found it for me, but I don't know where. My brother and sister were both older than me, and were also evacuated, although they stayed in a different house.

At some time I moved in with Mr and Mrs Herliman who had a bakers. I used to love the smell of bread - well it was food wasn't it!

One day I went for a walk to a quarry, but slid right down it. When I got home my raincoat was all torn.

I then went to stay with Mr and Mrs Poland, whose son and daughter were both in the forces. She used to make me eat cheese - I still can't stand it to this day. Despite the cheese I loved it there. They had large grounds, and I remember a fig tree in the garden. I still think of them whenever I see one today.

Mr Poland had a factory where we used to shoot starlings, he used to take the wings and sent them to the factory to decorate hats and things. We also shot rabbits, and I learnt to skin one. They also went back to the factory.

Mrs Poland was keen on helping the troops. On Exmoor there was a rocket site, and she used to knit things for the men stationed there.

We used to go walking on the moors. It was like a oys adventure. There was a copse of trees I used to climb. There was also a big hill which we used to toboggan down.

My brother came to visit me once, but didn't tell me he was coming. The first I knew was when I saw him in the river playing with the fish.

I did quite well at school, going to South Moulton Grammar School.

My mum came down one day because I was homesick, and we went for a pony and trap ride. I only saw her twice in the years I was down there. My father was ill, and died while I was away. I remember finding out when I got back in 1944.

There were still V1 and V2s coming over when I got back. You could hear the drone of the V1s and then the whistling of the wind while you waited for them to explode.

My main memory of coming back into London was the tape criss crossing them to stop the glass shattering.

I was at school one time when I heard a bang. A V2 had taken out a whole street.

I've been back to the village since. It hadn't changed much.

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