大象传媒

This story was submitted by Alison Tebbutt, Derby CSV Action Desk, on behalf of Joyce Peach. The author has given her permission, and fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

We were evacuated from Derby to Ripley-only ten miles! I was seven. My sister Beryl was eight. Our mother went with us too. I thought we would be placed with a young couple, but they were in their eighties. Their names were Mr and Mrs Brough, and they were lovely. They were related to almost everyone in the cul-de-sac. We had a pump in the kitchen, which pumped the most beautiful water. They also had a crystal set complete with headphones-that was a novelty! We were with them for six months, before returning back to Derby.

I remember being at school, where we had to run two hundred yards from the school to a shelter. This was a concrete shelter above ground. I remember it vividly. If a plane had come over, we would all be dead.

My mother, Florence, worked in a leather mill. My Dad worked on the railway. He would work for twelve hours, and then some nights he'd do Home Guard duties. He worked so hard.

I remember when the war ended. I was thirteen. Everyone was dancing in the streets of Derby.

All my Uncles came home. I had two in the Air Force, two in the Army and one in the Fleet Air Arm.

We never went without durng the war because my mum would trade on the black market. We never had any oranges or bananas though. It wasn't what you knew, but who you knew. She used to buy ration books of people she worked with. She befriended a nearby Army camp and came home with tims of evaporated milk.

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