大象传媒

I was born 2 years before the war started, so I was very young in the early years.I remember my mother Elsie, working full time in a converted lace factory, she worked in ammunitions,she would have liked to be in the ATS but she was only 4ft 11 1/2ins so she was too short.My Grandmother Emily had sole care of me as a small child. I remember being taken everywhere by my grandma in a push chair even to the age when I was around 5 and 6 years old I think she felt she could transport me quicker, she was out in the town in all weathers and even when the air raids were on, I remember being terrified of the search lights, because I thought it was them that made the noise,my grandma at the age of 66 would be running through the streets with me in the push chair,trying to reach home and the shelter, many times I remember the soldiers from the drill hall near where we lived grabbing the push chair and bumping me down the steps into the basement of the drill hall, with my grandma in hot persuit. We hardly ever went into the Anderson shelter, we spent most of the time under the stairs in the built in coalhouse One of my recollections at the end of the war was young men putting cigarettes into cracks in walls and lighting them they used to go off with a big bang scaring the life out of us children, I realise now that they were fireworks the young chaps would probably have been about 15 or 16, My mother on her evenings off would take me to the pictures, we had to walk home in the pitch dark, it was lovely when there was a moon out because we could see our way home, but we had to hurry in case there was an air raid, so my mum preffered the pitch dark,she was very good at finding her way home.
We had quite a few bombs dropped where I lived as they were aiming for the airadrome, there was also a railway line at the back of our house so that would have been a target
My schooling was at the local convent school
where we were treated to all sorts of goodies, I think the American Soldiers took pity on the children, the nuns always seemed to have a large box of sweets which we were allowed to purchase for a halfpenny each but as not many of us could afford the halfpenny the sweet box was nearly always full, the americans also gave the nuns a sack of drinking chocolate, which we were told if we brought a tin we could have a share for nothing, so all the children brought tins or containers, I dont think any of the chocolate arrived home we ate it like kali dipping our fingers into it and sucking them
A great time was had by the kids when the air raid sounded, we all piled into the cloak rooms, boys in thiers and girls in thiers, we played games and sang songs and had wonderful stories read from Enid Blytons Sunny Stories and the lives of the Saints.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.