大象传媒

I was born in Bermondsey in 1933,Major Road to be exact,i had an elder sister by 4 yrs,a mum and a dad and i nice rented house,with a garden.my pre-war memories are of a very nice borough with tree lined streets,friendly nieghbours, and all of our relatives lived within a very short walking distance.During the summers we all used to get a train from London Bridge and proceed to Shepperton with a picnic and a sit by the river,returning home at about 9pm,after a very pleasant day out.
This was all about to come to an end as we had to listen to that fateful speech by Chamberlain that we were at war with Germany.It didnt appear to have much of an impact in our house as my Mother and Dad went about their business and showed no signs of emotion whatso-ever.We had to listen to the news every day to see what was happening,but life went on as usual.Then one day we had workmen come into our garden and deliver a load of corrugated sheets and angle iron,this was an Anderson Shelter my Dad explained,i remember thinking it was very small and we wouldnt be able to get in there.My Dad and the neighbours all helped to dig a large hole and fill the bottom with concrete,they then erected the shelter,bolting the parts to-gether and heaping all of the dirt over the top of it,i was the first in and i thought it was very dark and cold,but a good camp,i remember jumping on and off of the bunk beds and claiming a top one for myself.But before it came into use my sister and i were evacuated,we caught a bus to Paragon School at the Bricklayers Arms,then onto a train at Waterloo.My sister had strict instructions that we were not to be seperated and as i was 7 and she was 11,she was in charge.We had not a clue as to where we were going as we waved goodbye from the train window.I cannot remember much about the journey but it was very dark when we finally arrived in a school hall in St Merryn Cornwall.We sat on the forms in the hall as the people came and took the children away,as we had to go as a couple we were the last to go.Our dwelling was just around the corner from the School.Towan Cottages, No2 with a Mr and Mrs Ellery,who had two children,a boy and a girl almost the same ages us both of us.We went into the house which was very dark,Mrs Ellery then got a parafin lamp and lit it,standing it on the table.I asked her if it was a farm and they all laughed,you will see in the morning she said.The cottages were without any mains water or electricity or Gas,there was a pump in the front garden that we had to draw water from and a chemical toilet right down the bottom of the garden.Mrs Ellery used to cook on a large Kitchen Range,and i can still smell her Pasties,what a surprise they were,we loved them as we hadnt heard of them before.no meat of course,only lovely vegetables and delicious pastry.We seemed to have a fair amount of freedon and it was very exciting to explore the countryside,there was a pond close by and i used to spend hours there catching Tadpoles and Newts,after the streets of LOndon it was very refreshing.After a few months my Mother wrote to say she was coming to see us,she had just given birth to our younger brother and would have to bring him with her, as myDad had got his papers and was Joining the Army.I do not know to this day how my Mum managed to get all the way to St Merryn,she had never been out of Bermondsey in her life without Dad and the Family,plus there were air raids going on around the seaside towns and they had to stop the train several times,it took her over nine hours,and with a baby in your arms, thats very courageous.Anyway she arrived at the door and we were very happy to see her,it was all going fine until she wanted to use the toilet!when she was told where it was and what it was ,i saw her face drop,she said to Mrs Ellery that she did not like the idea of us two using such a tiolet,and that she wanted to get us moved to somewhere with a bit more sanition.it mattered little to my sister and i,but it didnt go down well at all with Mum.She said she would see the lettings people and let Mrs Ellery know.In the meantime Mrs Ellery had arranged for us to go to Padstow for the May Day celbrations(what war)In Padstow we were treated to a fine display from the Hobby Horse,who scared the living daylights out of us,and some Maypole and Morris Dancing,it was all very exciting and i dont think i slept that night.On the next night,we heard an airplane circling round and round and being nosey we got out of bed and watched it from the window,and it was on fire,at that time we did not know if it was one of ours or a German.Then it got lower and lower before going down behind some trees with an almighty crunch and the smoke and flames started to rise.It had crashed about two fields away from us and taken the roof off of a cottage on the way down.We went to have a look the next morning but we had to stay back as ammunition was still going off in the wreckage.It was in fact a Lockheed Hudson from Coastal Command and i believe that the crew all perished in the crash.On another occasion one evening we heard a plane approaching,it flew around by our cottages and headed South,we could see it coming under attack from tracer and Anti-Aircraft fire,it began to smoke and crashed on the hillside about 5 miles from us,We could see the German Crew,they had kind of White flying suits on and were looking around,what a surprise they got from the Gunners on the Airfield,i think it was St Eval that got it,it was a Hienkel 110 i think.Any way,My Mum eventually got us moved and we went to a lovely big house overlooking Treyarnon Bay called Tamerisk,the front garden was in fact a large field,that had cows in it!!at the end of this was the approach to the beach,which wasnt mined, neither was Constantine Bay,the next one along.The house was a large detached house split into two,the other half being home to Canadian Airmen.The lady we were with actually rented half of the house and came from Cheam in Surrey,her name was Della Maizes,probably in her late twenties,her husband,Ben had a hardware shop in Cheam and a Car!he used to come and visit, driving with a tin helmet on,and would take us into Nequay to go to the pictures.I can still picture the lovely beaches with the only inhabitants being my sister and myself,i could barely see her if she went along the beach,i used to watch for the dog going in and out of the sea to locate her.Little did we know that this was about to come to a sudden end.It transpired that all young women of a certain age had to enlist for war work,unless they were pregnant!Della got pregnant,we went home and they all went back to Cheam,.We visited them after the war,they had a lovely house at Morden then and i remember fondly what lovely kind people they were,as were Mr and Mr Ellery,children Peggy and Alan.i would like to add that Mr Ellery was a Church Warden and we used to go to the Church in St Merryn two or three times a day,i used to dust the pews and my sister and Peggy would change all of the flowers,it was a very pleasant time for us,little did we know what was to come.....Next chapter "The Blitz"

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