大象传媒

A few days before I started school at the age of five in 1939, our country went to war with another country called Germany. Wars are not very nice, but you might be interested to know what it was like to be child then.
The place where I lived was about ten miles from London. It was to the north and west of London, and was called Wembley, in Wembley there was a big stadium where many football matches where played.
The place I went to school was a bit like Gornerby Hill Foot (near Grantham) it was about that size and had that many children.
Most of the men teachers had to of to be soldiers, sailors or airmen, so the lady teachers had to manage with classes of fifty to sixty children, we did not sit in groups like you do in the classroom, we sat at desks. There are to children to each desk, and the desks where in lines. At the front of the class the teacher had her desk and behind her was the chalk (black) board. We had to be very good and not talk unless the teacher told us we could. If you where naughty you got a slap on the hand. We learned to read, write and do sums, because there was a war on we had to save paper. We had to fold our arithmetic book pages in half and do sums on each half of the pages. We could not have a new exercise book until we had written on all the pages and on all the corners as well. If we did paintings or drawings we had to use both sides of the paper and if there was even a scrap of paper left it had to be collected in sacks to be re-cycled.
We had to playgrounds, the biggest was the girls and infants and the other on the other side of the school was for the boys. We played games at playtime like skipping, ball or spinning tops, we used to make them spin with a whip. We also played ring games like farmers in his den, he or what鈥檚 the time Mr Wolf?
The boys would play hopscotch leap frog and conkers
We had to go out at playtimes even if it was wet and cold. There was a rain shelter with a bench at the back of the wall but it was not big enough to play many running around games
Some times the Germans would send aeroplanes to drop bombs on London. When they came over we where warned of their coming by a siren on the police station that made a very loud wailing sound that could be herd all over Wembley. These where called air raid warnings, and the time the bombers where around was called an air raid. When we herd the warnings we had to stop what we where doing and line up at the door. Then we had to go to the cloakroom and get our hats coats and gas masks, and go to an air raid shelter that was given to our class. There had to be no running or talking, but we had to get quickly and quietly to the shelter.
Air raid shelters where made of especially strong concrete with iron sides and covered with earth, so that it would not fall down on us if a bomb dropped on it. Gas masks where horrid rubber bag like face pieces that had a special filter to filter the air before we breathed it, we had to have gas masks in case bombs with poisonous gasses in them where dropped. I am glad to say that this never happened.

If it was going home time when there was an air raid we where not allowed to go home unless mummy came for us. As my mummy had a baby I would sometimes be the last to come home as mummy did not want to take the baby out in an air raid to collect me.
When the bombers came over to drop bombs on us the sailors would fire big guns to shoot them down. They did make a lot of noise. There where planes called fighter planes in witch our airman would fight the bombers in the air. These fights where called 鈥渄og fights鈥� what with the noise of the guns, planes and the bombs it was very noisy. My mummy told me to not be scared because Jesus would look after me and though I never saw him he did because I never got hurt.
When the air raid was over and the sky was clear the siren would sound a long steady sound and I knew it was safe to come out of the shelter.
Some times the German bombers would come at night so when it got dark we had to shut heavy black curtains to stop any light coming through so that the German pilots would not know where to drop their bombs, there where no street lights and cars where only aloud tiny lights, so it was very dark at light. On a clear night we loved going outside to look at the stars, because there where no other lights they looked big and bright now days with all the street lights they don鈥檛 look so lovely.
There was one word heard very often that was shortage. The soldiers needed lots of things like food and equipment for the war, and because the Germans tried to stop the food coming in from other countries by bombing the ships there where not a lot of things to go around to all the people in the country so we had rationing, every person adult and child had a ration book. We where allowed only so much food2oz bacon, 1oz marg, 1 oz butter, 2oz tea 4oz sugar and 2 oz sweets each week. If it was tinned we had to give in coupons called points. We could only have so many points each month. Everyone tried to grow as many vegetable as possible. I used to help in the garden for money the grown ups called it digging for victory.
There was a shortage for clothes to we had to give coupons for clothes and shoes. As me and my brothers needed new shoes quite often my mommy made me skirts out of her skirts and my brothers trousers out of my step dad trousers, because there where not enough coupons my mommy never wore stockings through out the war.
There where a shortage of toys because all the factories had to make things for the war so children made our own toys out of clothes pegs and scraps of cloth or pipe cleaners. Or bits of wood or metal my brother made a replica gun out of wood and tin cans, I loved my clothes peg dolls I wish I had kept them.
Father Christmas found it difficult to get toys but he had quite a bit of help from mummies and daddies. I had a lovely nurse鈥檚 outfit that my mummy made and my brothers had cars that their daddy had made.
Father Christmas used to save up all the coloured paper he could to put in the stocking to make it look full. It was fun searching in the paper to find nuts or three penny pieces hidden among it. Most Christmas鈥� there was an orange in the stocking. This was a very special treat. The greengrocers shop very rarely had oranges and I never had a banana all through the war.
I had a lovely childhood. My mummy and daddy worked hard to make it a happy time. I always had a birthday party, even though we didn鈥檛 have a cake, we saves up our points to buy a tin of fruit and a jelly, and saved our sweet ration to make a 鈥榮urprise birthday cake鈥�. My mummy covered a cake tin with plaster to look like icing, with candles on the top. When I had blown out my birthday candles, my mummy would lift up the cake tin and underneath was a small bar of chocolate for each child. What a treat it was.
Some parents sent their children to the country to get away from the bombing. It was called evacuation. When the children reached the country kind people took them into their home and looked after the children all through the war. Other children went to America, but my mummy was ill and couldn鈥檛 get the papers and forms for me go. I was supposed to go on a ship called the 鈥淐ity of Benares鈥�. Some of the children in my school went on the ship. The German navy sunk the ship in the Atlantic Ocean and many children were drowned. It was sad. My mummy wouldn鈥檛 let me go to America after that.
There were some sad times. Some houses were knocked down by bombs. Some daddies went to war and were killed, there was not a lot to eat, hardly any sweets and toys, but we were happy. There was 鈥楶unch and Judy鈥� in the park, school fetes and other entertainment, and even if we had to have holidays at home we made our own fun.
In the evening when homework was done we listened to 鈥楥hildren鈥檚 Hour鈥� on the radio with stories like 鈥淭oytown鈥�, 鈥淛ennings at School鈥�, or 鈥淭oad of Toad Hall鈥�. There was no television, video or video games. We read books and played games like 鈥淟udo鈥� or 鈥淪nakes and Ladders鈥� with our brothers and sisters or talked to our parents.
The war ended when I was ten years old. It was a time of great happiness. There were no more air raids, no more sad news and we were so happy. The grown ups took their dining tables and chairs into the streets, cut masses of sandwiches, made cakes, jellies and blancmanges. Then we all had a party in the road. Grown ups and children all joined in to have one of the best and happiest party of our lives.
We must ask Jesus to stop people wanting to go to war, and pray that He will look after people whose countries are at war today.

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