大象传媒

Elise was one of the first batch of children to be evacuated. Initially she went to the vicarage in Cirencester but the vicar's wife was expecting a baby and so Elise was moved to another young family for a short while. However because is was still very quiet in London and there was no bombing she came home. She was very glad to go home because she had become very homesick. There was a shortage of teachers at the time and so she only went to school alternate weeks of either mornings or afternoons. The school was Cambell School, Dagenham.

Elise鈥檚 mum worked at the gas works keeping it operating and her dad worked at Barking power station but was also in the Home Guard. Her two brothers were in the navy, George was on HMS Shropshire and James was on HMS Belfast and fortunately both came home at the end of the war. A cousin, Elias Goosetree was captured in Singapore.

Then the bombing started and the Scratons Farm estate where Elise lived was one of the first to be hit by a land mine. One family was completely killed and the Bowles family lost their father and son, Charlie who was about the same age as Elise. It was a dreadful time but it could have been worse because the bomb landed in mud which cushioned the blow. Another land mine dropped later in Movers Lane, Barking but luckily this time it did not explode.

Although there was bombing, Elise was never evacuated again but took shelter regularly in an Anderson shelter in her garden. One time it was hit by what they thought was a bomb with an almighty crash but luckily it was only the rack that had held the incendries that had been eject by a plane.

The Comley family lived next door. There were four children Eileen, Roy, Jean and Allan. Their father was in Scicily and and because Mrs Comley was quite young Elise鈥檚 mum took charge of them and made sure they were safe in the shelter when the bombing started.

Elise has a sister Joan born in Novemember 1941. When Elise's mum returned to her vital job Elise had to look after Joan before and after school.

Elise remembers how despite the mayhem life went on and they became quite blas茅 about the situation. She remembers going to the cinema and a sixpenny dance at the local church hall.

She left school in 1943 at the age of fourteen and went to Dawson鈥檚 School, Dagenham as a nursery nurse. She loved her job. The headmistress was Miss Grey who was a lovely, kind lady. At this time the doodlebugs started and the staff had to take the children into a large round shelter. The children just accepted the situation and even took their afternoon naps without any problem. One doodlebug fell at Faircross school in the grounds where a WAF unit were manning a barrage balloon. Sadly several were killed.

During her time at Dawson鈥檚 School Elise met her husband to be Ronald. He had been invalided out of the war in 1943 after serving in the Norway campaign. He worked for the Barking local authority but to still do his bit he used to drive a tea and coffee wagon for the WVS in the evenings.

Elise and Ronald married in 1944 and had a son and two daughters. She feels very fortunate that although she lived through the horrors of the bombing in the East End she came through it unscathed. She experienced some very bad moments but looks back and also remembers some very good times.

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