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I was 8 years old when war broke out in 1939, and living in Knebworth, Hertfordshire. My first memory is of evacuees arriving by train from London, two of whom were billeted on us after my parents had been to the village hall to see them. We also had my grandparents with us, who had arrived from London.

We local children went to school for half a day whilst the evacuees went the other half. Some weeks later our evacuees returned to London as it was some months before the blitz began.

Knebworth did not suffer from the bombs very much as we were in the country. However there were a few instances locally. In about 1942 a German plane came and machine-gunned a train on the main line to the north. I remember seeing the swastika as the plane was so low. Later in the war a ‘missile’ went through someone’s roof near us.

We had chickens in the garden to help the war effort and when they were laying well my mother would preserve eggs. This was called ‘putting them down’ in ‘water glass’. My mother also bottled a lot of fruit in season to last us the rest of the year — no freezers then!

Britain was unable to import fruit such as bananas and oranges during the war. Food was rationed but my mother managed to serve meals. We had vegetables in the garden, and the chickens, and as we were in the country the farmers could catch rabbits.

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