大象传媒

I was seven years of age when the Second World War began in 1939.

I lived with my family on the Ridgeway Estate in Fishponds, I remember the local factories i.e. Parnalls, Robinsons and others becoming shadow factories to the Bristol Aeroplane Company, parts of aircraft would be taken away every day on long trailers.

In order to ensure a good supply of water to the factories for fire fighting a large steel pipe was laid in the gutter along Ridgeway Road from the Alcove Lido where a water pump was installed, to several points near the factories.

Another memory I have is the coal slag dumps from the old coal mine in Deep Pit Road, the dumps extended from there to Ridgeway Road. The Corporation set up hoppers and with help from local people filled sand bags with coal dust, these were loaded onto lorries and taken away.

Some time later, American soldiers were walking along in single file on both sides of Ridgeway Road to the coal dumps where they had set up camp on the flat areas. I believed they had walked from Fishponds Railway Station. On Saturdays we would fetch water for them from a stand pipe on the nearby allotments, the reward was a chocolate bar similar to a Mars Bar. I believe these troops were part of the D-Day invasion force.

I was a pupil at Dr Bells School on Fishponds Road during this time. I remember being in the underground shelters at the school, during a daylight raid. The noises of the aircraft engines close by were heard and what I thought was a bomb exploding. When we came out of the shelters there was a trail of oil the length of the playground. It was reported later that a German plane had crashed in the grounds of the Institute in Manor Road, two of the crew are buried in Green Bank Cemetery.

My father was a First World War Veteran, he was a telephone engineer working for Post Office Telephones who formed a Home Guard Unit when the Second World War started, this was the 15th Battalion the Gloucestershire Regiment. My father served in this unit and was often on duty in the city helping to guard the telephone exchange etc. My mother would worry a lot if he was on duty during a raid.

When not on duty, my father, along with a next door neighbour, also a First World War Veteran, would stand by the front gate talking during a raid and was quite amused when my older brother, who was fire watching on the roof of Chester Park School, rushed past him into the shelter with the rest of my family. Father appeared a few seconds later and with a smile on his face looked at my brother and said 鈥渢hings got a bit hot son?鈥�

I should have mentioned as many will remember, lots of troops that were evacuated from Dunkirk were billeted in Eastville Park, People were able to invite them into their homes for a meal. I remember one in particular by the name of Billy Burnham, he was from the North Country I believe. The sirens sounded one evening and Billy was very nervous and eager to get to the shelter, it wasn鈥檛 until I was older and knew what he had experienced at Dunkirk that I understood his nervousness.

Another memory I have was of my sister being brought home very shaken up after having an incendiary bomb land in front of her. Fortunately she was not seriously injured. She worked as a telephonist at the central telephone and would get advance warning when an air raid was likely. She would telephone home to inform her mother who would let the next door neighbours know the news by banging on the back of the fireplace. This would sound in their living room and alert them.

Mervyn Miller. 7th November 2005

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