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Christopher Johnston spoke to Eileen Wells about her thoughts on life in Belfast and as an evacuee in Fermanagh during the war

Eileen Wells was a young girl in Belfast when the Second World War broke out. She spoke to our reporter about some of her memories of that time.
Eileen lived in Ritchie Street on the York Road, in North Belfast near the railway line that ran to the docks. As a consequence of living near both the railway and the docks, the street Eileen lived on was bombed frequently. Eileen recalled how her mum used to make tea for the soldiers on duty protecting the docks and the railway.

If she wasn鈥檛 making tea she was darning socks for service men. Although there was much destruction after air raids often one person鈥檚 bad luck became another person鈥檚 good luck. Eileen explains that on returning to the street she lived in after one bombing raid she found a small child鈥檚 tricycle in the street. Although it was too small for her to use she was happy to have a new toy. Later in the day whilst playing in the rubble she also found a china tea set for children. Eileen was delighted she had gone from having no toys to having a choice of two. She spent the rest of the day playing with her new found toys.

When war broke out Eileen鈥檚 father who was in the forces was posted overseas to Burma. Eileen remembers that her mother had many relatives in the forces and many of them used to stay with them during leave. One night her uncle was staying with them when a bomb hit the house. Luckily it did not explode but crashed through the roof leaving a large hole in the ceiling and making the house too dangerous to live in. It was then that the authorities decided that the family had to be evacuated.

During the war families from all over Belfast were evacuated to the country particularly to County Tyrone and County Fermanagh. Eileen and her family were evacuated from Belfast to Ballinamallard in County Fermanagh. Eileen takes up the story.

鈥淲hen we first arrived in Fermanagh we were put up by a local minister. I remember that his wife did not seem too happy to have us and soon we were moved to a large store called Croziers. After several nights in the store we again moved to local farm owned by people called Dickson from there we moved to a near- by cottage.

Moving to the country came as quite a shock to Eileen and her family. 鈥淎s city dwellers we had to adapt to the country ways and rural life. We learnt how to make butter and not only collect the milk but also milk the cows. Yet to a city child the country was a big adventure.

As a child Eileen remembers she had a sense of adventure which she put to good use during her stay in the country. 鈥淭he local village had a river running through it and a bridge over the river which we had to cross to get to school. One morning I decided to cross the bridge not on the pavement or road but up on the wall of the bridge. There was a thirty foot drop into the river but I crossed it anyway. Unluckily for me someone spied me and shouted at me for doing it.

During the war many parts of the country were occupied by American soldiers or GI鈥檚 as they were known. Fermanagh was no exception. Eileen recounts one episode her family had with a GI. 鈥淚 remember one occasion my elder sister coming home form a dance with a GI. She said good night to him at the door. Some time later tried to sneak into the cottage through the bedroom window. My mother heard him and hit him over the head with a poker.

When Eileen and her family returned to Belfast after the war it was to a very different city. Although the city was badly damaged a new sense of hope was in the air but some of the old sense of community had gone as Eileen found out.

鈥淎fter the war we returned to Belfast to move back into our house. We were surprised to find that although our house was empty for several years many of our belongings had been stolen from our house while we were away. The funny thing was that after the war you would often be walking along the street and would see a picture your mum had in your neighbour鈥檚 house.

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