大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Rebecca Hood of the People's War Team in Wales on behalf of Ann Powell (formerly Senior) and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The story was gathered at an event held in Abergavenny to mark the 60th anniversary of VE day.

I can remember the day war broke out, I was three and I was walking across the lawn with my parents, we were going to dig the vegetable garden. And this terrible noise started up and it frightened me to death, it was the air raid siren and my parents turned and grabbed me up and rushed me back into the air raid shelter which my father had dug out and we sat in there all day and nothing happened. That was the phoney war. A year later when my father had gone to war in the fleet air line, I remember one night my mother carrying me out in her arms, crying, tears running down her face and she said 鈥渓ook at the sky鈥�, and it was lit up with red, glowing red flames. And she said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 London burning, remember that鈥� and she鈥檇 been born in London, although her parents came from Gloucestershire, she loved London and she was so upset鈥� I鈥檒l never forget that鈥�.Nearly every night at one time the air raid sirens would go. We slept under the stairs my baby brother, my mother and I because it was the safest place. If a house was bombed usually the stairs were left standing鈥� so I slept under the stairs the whole war. My baby brother slept in a tin trunk, I don鈥檛 think it would have been much protection if he鈥檇 been hit by a bomb.

I can remember the rationing and the shortages鈥he only clothes I could have was school uniform. I can鈥檛 really remember school very much, except when the air raid siren went, we were hurried into somewhere safe or I remember my mother taking me away from one school because I was kept in to do my sums and there was an air raid on and she was so angry with them that she took me away and sent me to another school. I used to have to walk about three or four miles to school, that first school, there and back.

I hated dried egg and I hated spam and I still hate pork luncheon meat鈥� can鈥檛 stand it! Didn鈥檛 mind corned beef, but we were lucky cause we had a large garden with a vegetable patch, growing fruit trees, fruit bushes, we had chickens and ducks, so we were extremely lucky really. We had fresh meat and eggs and a goat鈥� for milk鈥t used to butt my father, it didn鈥檛 like him鈥�. And rabbits, rabbits in a hutch.

I can just remember (VE day) a party on a neighbour鈥檚 tennis court which was covered in weeds because it hadn鈥檛 been used during the war and we had a fancy dress party, someone found me a clown outfit, and I remember it had big penny spots in different colours all over it. I thought I was the cat鈥檚 whiskers! And mum made me a sort of dunce's clown hat out of paper and we all had tables and a big feast, everybody found something to eat somehow. I think they used to save up their rations for a special treat sometimes. we had lots of parties鈥ept us going鈥�.we were always having parties, children鈥檚 parties and lots of grow-up parties. I remember my grandparents and my uncle lived next door, my uncle was just too young to go into the RAF and then he got an apprentice with a tool maker so he wasn鈥檛 allowed to go in the RAF, which broke his heart鈥ll his friends were in the RAF. and they were pilots and things and I remember having measles and one of my uncle's friends sitting on the end of the bed reading Winnie the Pooh to me, he went off on a bombing raid the next day and he never came back. That still makes me feel like crying.

I also remember some cousins that lived in London and cousin Ninky and Billy, they were my father's cousins, and they had two little girls, I remember Aunty Ninky turning up next door distraught鈥� I don鈥檛 know when it was, I think it was near the outbreak of the war, but my cousin Barbara had been sent to school and the class had labels put round their necks and evacuated. Ninky didn鈥檛 know, she had this baby in her arms, she turned up at my grandparent鈥檚 house next door, absolutely distraught just crying her heart out because Barbara had disappeared and she didn鈥檛 know where. Barbara was eventually found in Norfolk on a farm and she never wanted to go home again, she was only about five, but she never came home again really. I think Ninky and the baby stayed next door for quite a while with my Gran. I wasn鈥檛 evacuated because I wasn鈥檛 in the middle of London.

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