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My name is William Cope and I was born in 1927 in the village of Willington, some 6 miles south of Derby an 5 miles from Burton on Trent. I went to the village school until September 1937 and was then awarded a Scholarship to Bemrose School in Derby. I was given a pass to travel by bus.
On the outbreak of War in September 1939 there were many sudden changes.
Air-Raid shelters were erected everywhere, we were issued with Gas-masks which we had to carry with us at all times. There was a "Black-out" and no lights were permitted from houses. The buses had all their windows painted with a blue paint so that it was not possible to see out.
Derby was one of the strategically important towns and was surrounded by "Barrage Balloons" to prevent any attack by low flying enemy bombers. The Rolls Royce works and the roads surrounding them had large cannisters some 3 feet high and at night they were lit and emitted a foul smelling cloud of smoke, again to hamper any attacking enemy aircraft. Derby was also the Headquarters of the LMS Railway and the locomotive works were similarly protected.

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