大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Sue Smith on behalf of Enid Lilley and has been added to the site with her permission. Enid fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.
I grew up in Ashington, Northumberland and was one of eight children. When the siren went everyone would go downstairs to shelter, except my Mum who insisted that she would rather die in her own bed. I went to the same school as Bobby and Jackie Charlton and I can remember being fitted for my gas mask. We had to go through a large army truck which was filled with smoke to see how it affected us. Although our town was not a direct target for bombing the planes which were directed at the shipyards would unload their spare bombs as they were flying home. My Grandma鈥檚 house was hit and the shock caused her to develop diabetes. We were always hungry as food was rationed and Dad used to supplement our diet of meat with rabbits from the nearby farm. We always seemed to be joining queues and I can recall obtaining a banana and one egg from one of my trips, and occasionally Dad would acquire Turkish cigarettes. He was a leading fireman during the war and so was often called to dangerous situations. We rarely used our air raid shelter as it was damp and full of spiders but somehow we survived.
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