大象传媒

Disclaimer: This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from CSV on behalf of Gwendoline Francess Fullick and has been added to the site with her permission. Gwendoline Francess Fullick fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

At the end of the war, 1945 I was twenty-one on VE day! My manager and his wife collected some rations together from different people and the girls at work and they made me a twenty-first birthday cake. It was plain but it was lovely. They managed to get a bottle of wine and we had a sort of a little party at work. What was left over I took home with me. It was lovely and my own parents were very good. There weren鈥檛 a lot of things you could buy but they managed to buy a tiny leather wallet and put some money in it. But you didn鈥檛 expect anything else. I had quite a number of cards which I鈥檝e still got to this day. I鈥檒l soon be 81 鈥� on May the 8th! When I look back, thought it was a terrible time to go through, I have lots of good friends. Everyone was kind to one another and the neighbours would all help one another. So different from today when you have a job to get to know people. We had a good community spirit then. I was given nylons during the war. A lady I worked with, her son went to America during the war and he bought nylons for his sister. She was much bigger than me and they didn鈥檛 fit her and so they were given to me. Everybody was good to one another; I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 happened.

On VE Day there were parties going on in the street. People were dancing and the Yanks were there on leave. We went to the pub in the evening. I鈥檓 not a drinker but I had many drinks bought me and they were just wasted. It was lovely. A few days after they had celebrations in London. I came up on my own because mostly my friends were in the services. I lived in Muswell Hill. I lived in that house from when I was 8 and my father died in the house at the age of over 80; so it was a good many years we lived there. I think we all felt it when the boys we grew up with died; when they didn鈥檛 come back form the flying sorties they were in or they were sailors. We didn鈥檛 think about it when VE Day came though. We thought 鈥淣o more air raids!鈥� and people are not going to have all that suffering. The fireworks were wonderful. I didn鈥檛 stay as late as some people. People stayed there all night and came home at 4 in the morning. They managed to walk all the way. It was a long way from Muswell Hill to Leicester Square or Trafalgar Square! They just did a bit of dancing I suppose. It was wonderful 鈥� the mood was great. But I don鈥檛 want to see anymore wars. The last war we鈥檝e had, having been in a war, you really felt for people, you really did. I can鈥檛 see any point in wars you should try talk things out. But that鈥檚 life. It is so much to look back on, it鈥檚 quite wonderful.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.