大象传媒

In Riddings during the war when the incediary bombs fell all the men of the village ran around in circles trying to get the incendiary fires out before the big bombs came over. These fires would light the way for the bigger bombs. I think their target was Rolls Royce at Derby and we were on their flight path. All of the children were taken up to the colliery offices to safety.

Once a bomb dropped in the 'ressie' or reservoir. The force of it was felt right through the village, it knocked my friend and her mum out of their beds. Everyone went up to collect the fish that had been blown out of there.

We all piled out onto the street, my mum Florence Perkins who lived on High Street at Riddings, had our dog on a lead, a box under one arm with her papers and what bit of money she had in it and a cauliflower under the other arm. I said to her "what are you doing with that mother?" She didn't know she was so frightened that she had automatically had just picked up the first things she could when leaving the house.

My mother was as mad as hell because the first thing that my step-father Edward Perkins (Ted) did was to make sure the neighbours were all right. He left my mother to her own devices and she kept saying "where the hell is he?".

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