大象传媒

This story is submitted by a volunteer on behalf of Radio Bristol Action Desk at City of Bristol College.

1938 I lived in Deal in Kent. We all built trenches because we thought there was going to be a war then. My father brought us to Bristol to get us away from the coast and also because there were more jobs and opportunities for girls in Bristol.
In 1939 when I was ten years old the first thing I did in the war was to fill sand bags. These were used in front of important building to protect from bombs and shrapnel. My father went to territorial camp in 1939 in August and didn't come home again until 1945. During this time I saw him three times. Once at home, once when I was evacuated and once one Christmas when he happened to be in port at the time.
I was one of five sisters. We used to spend our evenings for the troops. We used to knit balaclava helmets socks mittens and scarves. We also had three evacuees from London. So all together we had 9 people knitting every night. Our too boy cousins used to wind the wool.
My job at school was hurricane lamp monitor. We had to take the lamps down in the morning before school and collect them afterwards. We also had to take cushions to school so that when we were up all night with the Blitz's we all used to have a PM rest, resting our heads on the cushions on the desk.
During the Blitz's we couldn't have an air raid shelter because of all the pipes in the garden so my mother emptied the cupboard under the stairs and my elder sisters would get us up, and throw us down under the stairs.
One of the strongest memories I have was going to school after a night raid walking through Stokes Croft and the centre through devastation and firemen with hosepipes still dampening down the flames. I walked from Bishopston to Knowle West because there was no Transport. I got eventually to school and was sent home again because there was no water or electricity or gas. So I walked all the way home again.
After Dunkirk we entertained the troops who were in Eastville Park at St Agnes church.
After the Blitz's finished we were evacuated to Cornwall and that鈥檚 where I met my husband. I was in Cornwall for four years I joined the Red Cross and we used to put on concerts to raise money for parcels for the prisoners of war in Greece. At that time Princess Marina of Greece who was the Duchess of Kent was the head of the Red Cross. With the Toq H we used to meet the troops off the early train from London and take them to a hall for tea and buns. In small Cornish towns there was no transport until the afternoon. From school we used to collect seaweed in an open lorry (No health and safety rules then), which was used for Iodine and that, was our games afternoon.
The most horrendous memory I have of Cornwall was after the Doodlebugs started to fall on London. Trainloads of women and children and babies came and we took them to church halls where they were given a place with a mattress. We used to take the babies for walks while the Mothers had a rest. In the old church halls there was never a very good kitchen it usually had one pot sink and one small gas stove and that鈥檚 where they had to do everything, from cooking to washing nappies.
I came home to Bristol before the war finished and had to wait until I was 18 to join the land army. We slept in Berkley manor house in a room with eight beds. No matter how dirty the work was, we did in the day we could only have a bath once a week because the boiler in the house couldn't cope with so many people. Then we went to Bishops Cleave outside Cheltenham we got up at 630 and were collected after breakfast to be taken to various farms. We never knew what the jobs were until we got there. Sometimes we cut cabbage, sometimes we milked cows, sometimes we did thrashing on a big thrashing drum. When I got used to milking cows I would go out and stay on a farm to replace someone who was sick or on holiday. During that time it was summertime and we worked from morn until night. First job was milking the cows then cleaning the sheds then breakfast time then we would do whatever job there was on the farm like cutting kale or pulling carrots and beetroot. We would then have a very good lunch because on a farm there was always vegetables in the field and the farmer could always shoot a rabbit. In the afternoon the cows had to be milked again and in the evening we would go out and as it was harvest time we would then work until it was dark. This would go on for at least six weeks and there were no weekends. Unfortunately I had a hernia and had to stay off for three months because I couldn't do heavy work and then the land army folded up because all the young men were returning from the war.

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