大象传媒

During the war my father,Norman Howard Spiller,born 1907,was the first in the home guard in Weald,Sevenoakes.Later on he was in the R.A.F. in East Anglia somewhere(I think Cambridge area)He gained his wings but was considered too old to fly in the 'raids' so was posted to the control tower.
On one airfield he was with the Canadians and made friends with one of the test pilots from Vancouver Island,he used to bring us food parcels,he put them at his feet while he flew the aircraft,then under his arm as he went through customs and gave them to my father who bought them home to us on his next leave - they were an aladins cave,there was so much excitement,all the things you could not get.
This friendship has now gone to the third generation.
When I was about 10 my Father had a 48 hour pass, and he arranged for my sister and I to take a visit to a 'barrage balloon' anchorage site. I can remeber he went ahead of us and said something to the men on duty and showed them his pass and identity card. They showed us how it was hidden and what was on the other end of the piece of wire, how it all worked, and what happened to the barrage balloon silk once it was torn, and what else was in the balloon - a gas cylinder which ignited - how I am not sure now.
One day my sister and i were down in the garden nicking the raspberries from under the muslin my parents had put over them to stop the birds from eating them, when we saw a flying bomb come over the hill! We both rushed to the house and into the Anderson Shelter (a long metal table with mesh sides) in the dining room, and then the siren went. This bomb missed us!
When my Father was in the Home Guard he used to do a duty in a wooden hut with a long window across the top of the wall with no glass in it, you could shut the window by putting the vent down. Many years later my parents bought this property on the hillside and my Father told us what he used to do there, looking out for unfriendly aircraft etc. We moved the hut to a more suitable site next to the tennis court and kept the lawn mowers in it. We had eleven acres of which about four acres were garden with lots of lawn to cut.
I am dyslexic and could not read aged nine, so the girls started to throw stones at me and made my life a misery. One day I had enough of this treatment and so refused to go out to play after lunch, but the teacher on duty pushed me out of the door and locked it so I could not get in! I put up with this assault until the end of term and then told my parents. I refused to go back to school - if you take me I will walk out - I am not going back! I did not tell them why; they obviously 'poned the school to ask what had been going on. So I was then sent to boarding school. One night one of the prefects came into our dormitory and said "The war is over". We through our gas masks out of the window where the Head Mistress and Secretaries dogs chewed them up. The next morning we took our pillows and slid down the oak stairs to the Hall (out of bounds). I knocked over the fire bucket full of water. Head Mistress not well pleased!
One day on my journey either to or from school, I saw a man in Army uniform lying on the ground. I told the first person I saw who was a Policeman and he hurridley made his way to him having escorted me well past the scene first. In Sevenoaks we had concrete road blocks every ten miles around the town - some were at the end of Oak Lane opposite Sevenoaks school. I can remember at the end of our road was the main A2 road through to Hastings, and a lot of Army lorries carrying Soldiers - it must have gine on for at least 2 or 3 hours one after annother. Dunkirk Landings?
I stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes when my Grandmother had the radio tuned to early morning news. It said Germany had invaded Poland, so we were now at war with Germany. My sister had just been born, I was 4 years old. We lived in what became known as 'bomb alley' in Sevenoaks. Opposite us we had three large houses in big grounds that were taken over; one for children who were crippled; annother for wounded soldiers, and the third, Shenden House, for Army offices and a pigeon loft.
When I was at school in Sevenoaks one day we had a visit from Shenden House to tell us about pigeons and their war work. If they lay eggs and hatch young, they will always return to the same loft and nest. The Army used to take the birds out to wherever they were going - it could be Africa - when they needed to send a message home they put a coded message in a tiny cannister attached to the birds leg and let it go - it then flew home and the message was acted upon from there.
In our house we had 2 officers billetted with us - on I did not like one bit - I was about 5 or 6 years old, he used to come in a lot the worse for wear, and trod on my only dolly who was on the side of the stairs waiting to be taken up to the playroom. He never said sorry or annything. The other Captain who stayed with us was a very kind man, he helped my Mother with things she could not cope with when my Father was on duty.

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