大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bill Ross of the 鈥楢ction Desk 鈥� Sheffield鈥� Team on behalf of Shirley Rouse, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mrs. Rouse fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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We were living in Enfield, just outside London, when the war started and the heavy bombing lit up the sky over London to a red glow. It wasn鈥檛 pleasant and my mother always suffered from her nerves so all she wanted to do was get away and when my little friend from school came and said, 鈥淢y mum is going in to the country to where our relatives are, would you like to come too?鈥� my mother just packed everything onto my little sister鈥檚 pram and away we went.

We caught a train to Liverpool Street Station, in London and changed there to get into the country and from the end of the line, we walked and walked and walked, about 15 miles. When we got to their relatives, enquires were made to see if anyone could take us in. No-one could, so they made enquiries from a village we had passed through, and the owner of the local village shop took us in.

We were there many months until my mother had a breakdown and then we had to go back to her mother鈥檚. My maternal grandmother didn鈥檛 want me so I was packed off to my dad鈥檚 mum who turned my life round with her love. I enjoyed the school I went to and the outings with my grandmother. She helped me in so many ways and I was sorry when the war ended, and I had to go back home. Eventually I was able to repay her by having her spend her last days in my home; she died in my arms, and I lost the best friend I鈥檇 ever had.

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