大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by Lisa Butcher of Leicestershire Library Services on behalf of Mary Beeson and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

I was nine years old when the War started and my Mum was in bed having just had my youngest sister (her 9th child) the week before. In those days they had to stay in bed for a month.

That Sunday morning I was in the back bedroom with her (we only had two bedrooms). She asked me to open the window for her as much as I could. It was a sash window and I wasn鈥檛 very big but I did it with a struggle. My mum said the neighbour down the row was bringing her accumulators wireless and putting it on the back yard wall for Mum to listen to. I thought, oh that鈥檚 nice of her, as we hadn鈥檛 got one, but it was for a reason, as she told us all to be quiet because she didn鈥檛 want to miss it.

The neighbours had all gathered round the wireless by now below our window. They shouted,
鈥淐an you hear it Flo?鈥� and my Mum shouts,
鈥淵es I can hear it.鈥� Then at 11 o clock came these words from the Prime Minister,
鈥淥ur Country is at War.鈥� My Mum just burst into tears. We couldn鈥檛 understand why she was so upset, but felt very worried. We realised it was something she was dreading and it was serious.

She had been through the First World War having been born in 1899, and knew what to expect. My Dad was in that war, in the Army.

When we were all given gas masks my baby sister was given one that you had to pump air into.

The first time the sirens went it was the middle of the night and the A.R.P. man knocked us up and told to get somewhere safe. I thought we were all going to be gassed and was screaming,
鈥淧ut her in it Mam, put her in it!鈥� Meaning my baby sister Jean, I didn鈥檛 care about my four younger brothers. I was panicking. It was such a vivid and terrifying memory for me, I thought we were all going to die.

Of course nothing happened that night.

After that my Mum and Dad cleaned the coal out from the bottom of the pantry which was under the stairs (it was considered the safest place to be.) It was white washed and some lino was put down and some boxes and little stools to sit on.

That鈥檚 where we used to sit during the air raids, I in my navy knickers and was freezing cold. After a few nights I think Mum left us in bed, it was easier for her.

My Dad was a miner and was on nights regularly so he was never there at night. Later on during the war my eldest sister was on munitions at Loughborough and she brought this London girl to live with us and then her 11 year old brother came too.

So apart from the eleven in our family Mum had two evacuees too. But it never bothered us. Out Aunt and Grandad lived next door so some slept there.

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