大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Julia Shuvalova for GMR Actiondesk on behalf of Joyce Corbett and has been added with her permission. The author is fully aware of the terms and conditions of the site.

In 1939 when war was declared I was 13 years old. My friends and I were quite frightened, as we didn't know what to expect.

My mother and other neighbours got together and formed a firewatching team in case incendiary bombs were dropped. I was told I would be a messenger during the air raids, because I had a bicycle. I couldn't imagine what it would be like riding about while these fires were burning.

As things started to settle down, everybody were joining groups to help the war effort. My friends and I went to the sunday school to help there, the men were packing posts for gasmasks, and the ladies were rolling bandages. We girls had to keep the ladies supplied and to move the full boxes, so they could be packed in a bigger box for transport.

When the siren sounded at night we would get out of bed and go downstairs, where my mum made for me and my brother a bed in pantry under the stairs, supposedly the safest place in the house. If things got quite noisy, then my mum and dad would come in, too.

Our schooling was also affected as the time went on. One week the seniors would attend in the morning and the juniors in the afternoon, then next week it would alter.

I also remember men coming round collecting old pans and metal for the ammunition; the school railings were also taken.

When Manchester was being bombed we could hear the planes and gunfire sometimes. We in Ashton-under-Lyne were very fortunate, as there were only one or two bombs dropped (not far from where we lived). Near the end of war, I think, only two people were killed. Luckily, I never had to ride my bycicle during a raid.

I would have liked to join the Wrens (WRNS).

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