- Contributed by听
- westernwards
- People in story:听
- Sylvia Richards (now Sylvia Leppard), Frederick Richards, Joyce Richards (now Joyce Hill), Peggy Richards (now Peggy Cox)
- Location of story:听
- Bramshill, Hartley Wintney, nr Basingstoke Hants
- Article ID:听
- A2721980
- Contributed on:听
- 08 June 2004
Near my old home is a stately home called Bramshill (5 miles away). During the the war it was turned into offices for the Red Cross Penny a Week Fund. Lots of staff came down from London to work. The Red Cross Penny a Week Fund was funded by people donating a penny a week, this was to support the Red Cross during the second world war. My sisters Joyce and Peggy also worked there.
Mostly the parcels were for the prisoners in consentration camps and our soldiers abroad. My work was in the accounts department, this was to type out the names and addresses of people who contributed. This was my work for almost 4 years. I cycled every day from my home.
I made lots of life-time friends during this period and we used to meet up in the evenings for dancing.
War time was an exciting time for a 15 year old and lots of different nationalities met at the dance halls. A great unity was found between everyone.
During this time my father was a farmer at Clays Farm, Heckfield, Basingstoke, Hants, England. His main crop was potatoes approx. 70 tons per year. To help with the heavy crop he employed German prisoners of war. They were guarded by armed english soldiers who were in charge.
To earn extra pocket money i also helped. These germans were very young as i also was. We couldn't understand each other but exchanged smiles. They were not allowed to stop picking up the potatoes. I mostly remember their young smiling faces and blond hair. I wish i had been able to take a photo, but i did not have a camera.
During this time i remember air raids most evenings. On one particular evening there was a terrific drone of german planes that seemed to go on forever. The next morning when we turned on the radio we found out that Coventry had been bombed.
Basingstoke and Odiham were also bombed which was unexpected, the planes at Odiham were machine gunned at.
The rationing did not affect us as badly as others, as we had fresh vegetables, eggs, rabbits and fruit from our farm. There was 8 children in our family to cater for.
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