大象传媒

Life in Sulgrave was very quite compared to London where my home was, but I felt secure although not completely happy. My foster parents owned a pig that was housed in a sty about a quarter of a mile from where we lived, and every day I would have to mix a pail of pigs swill that looked disgusting and carry it to the pigsty. The pail of swill was very heavy and the liquid would splash my legs as I struggled with the weight. My carer鈥檚 son was older than I but was never expected to carry out the tasks I was given, this made me resentful but I did not tell anyone for fear of ridicule.
Very often at weekends the man of the house would say to me we are going out to catch Rabbits This consisted of taking Ferrets wearing small collars, long lengths of twine, and some small nets. We would make our way to some fields, to look for Rabbit holes, once located we would fix the nets over the holes then put a ferret into one. It was only minutes before we would here a loud thumping in the ground as the Rabbit tried to escape the Ferret. On several occasions the Ferret caught the Rabbit killed it, and would start to eat it. The man would then tie the twine to the collar of another Ferret put it in the hole, wait for it to find the kill, then he would dig following the line to retrieve the Ferrets. I hated this practice because rabbits are so helpless against Ferrets.


On another occasion I was instructed to go into the barn, take young birds from their nest and feed them to the Ferrets I could not do it but the man did it himself. I could never come to terms with country practices.
There was another evacuee living with us, a girl aged about twelve she was rather heavy and had difficulty when we played games. She could never catch the other children and it made her very unhappy she would run until she was exhausted then break down and cry. I realised then how cruel children can be and I wanted to help her but I was afraid I would become a target.
My carers had three children, Mary the eldest, Diana she was my age Ten and David, twelve he never seemed to mix well with other boys, I believe that was why I was made to do the chores.

4
Mary the oldest daughter was married to a soldier, they did not live locally but one day Mary come home to live followed by her husband when he was allowed leave.
I liked Mary she would take my side if there were disputes concerning me. One Sunday my mother arrived from home and informed everyone she was taking me home, I was overjoyed, I learned later that Mary had written to her advising her that I was being used as a drudge and was concerned for my wellbeing. Once home I soon settled in to a life that was dictated by the number of air raids we had.

I was nearly Thirteen air raids were common and at night we would go to the communal shelter which consisted of many passages under ground some had bunks, but there were so many people you had to lay your bedding from home into any available space. Air raids started at six pm every night so if you wanted a good space you had to leave home by five pm. The goodwill among people was amazing, they had no fear for themselves, and all their thoughts were with the troops overseas most had husbands or sons fighting and when some one received a letter from them every one shared in the joy. When the siren sounded the all clear people would leave the shelter and look toward the city of London the sky would be a red glow, evidence of the bombing that had taken place. It was not uncommon to see convoys of lorries transporting servicemen, and on one occasion my friends and I called out and waved to them and they threw what looked like bullets to us. If that seems strange to the reader it must be remembered that a popular pastime was collecting war souvenirs such as bomb and shell shrapnel, and fragments of incendiary bombs. However the boy who had the bullets confirmed they were blanks. He then banged a hollow tube into the ground wedged the blank into the open end of the tube and struck the percussion cap with a screw driver and a hammer there was a loud bang and a scream. The cap had hit his eye he was rushed to hospital but he lost his sight in that eye.
My brother Arthur came home on a short leave on one occasion, and their was an air raid, anti aircraft guns used to fire along a railway at the back of our house it was mayhem, German aircraft were overhead. My brother told my parents he felt safer at his army post.
The battle of Britain ended and we entered a quiet period, By this time people had become accustomed to the ravages of war and believed it was only a matter of time before it would end. London, Coventry, and other industrial cities, Ports, and Docks had taken the brunt of the war. My parents never missed a news bulletin, I would watch them at night listening to the radio nodding knowingly to each other when news of our forces progress was reported, I found it quite amusing that they did not speak but
Just pulled faces or nodded. As a child at that time I never realised the anguish that adults were suffering waiting for news of their loved ones. When shopping with my mother I used to dislike her meeting people she knew because it meant that I would stand waiting for what seemed ages whilst they discussed all the latest news.
My parents were still working within the essential works order, my mother worked in Enfield small arms factory she was also a union convenor. One day my mother came home from work and told us that she had to go to London to a meeting the following week, she did not know what it was about but it did concern the Union. The following week after the meeting, my father read aloud the headline in the Sunday paper it read One thousand women kept the big secret. Apparently they had met Winston Churchill who asked them to pass on his gratitude to members of their union mainly women, for the way they were performing their duties for the war effort. It occurred to me that without my mother it would have been nine hundred and ninety nine. continued.

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