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Experiences during second world war.
1. Oakley, Basingstoke, Hants. 1939.
I was born in a little village in Hampshire called Church Oakley. My father was Headmaster of the school. I was just 5 when I recall my father looking rather glum as he listened to the news on the radio — it must have been the declaration that we were at war with Germany. At about the same time, my father gave me a Hornby train set because, as he later explained, such things might become impossible to obtain. A few days later, the ARP warden came round the village ringing a hand bell ; this was our first (practice I think) air raid warning.
2. Bromborough, Wirral, Cheshire. 1940 —1945.
My father changed to a school in Bromborough, Cheshire. We had a shelter in the school playground, and we had to take our gas-masks with us in a cardboard case. They smelt awful and were difficult to breathe in, but fortunately, we only had to practice with them. As Germany’s bombing offensive intensified, we lived directly under the flightpath to Liverpool docks. At the height of the blitz, we could see the glow of the fires in Liverpool and hear the bombs exploding. The anti-aircraft batteries at Oxton seemed to be aiming directly over us and we could hear bits of shrapnel raining down on the roofs during the firing. I and my friends had wonderful collections of this but after the war, my mother threw mine away. One night, I was taken outside to see a German bomber with flames pouring from it being pelted by the guns as it struggled to get back. There must have been quite a lot of downed planes because I remember my mother paying 3d for me to sit in the cockpit of a crashed German plane.
When my parents thought the bombing was too much for our safety, my sister and I were
sent to stay in Wolstanton, N. Staffs, with my grandparents, but I think we were only away a few months. Sweets were not available but I remember we sometimes had Horlicks tablets.
My father, as an A.R.P. warden used to go out firewatching on his bike at night. The nearest our house came to being hit was by a load of incendiary bombs (bad aiming !) most of which burned themselves out in the fields. One went through the edge of the roof of a neighbour’s house setting fire to the curtains but luckily it went at an angle coming out via the window. Another set fire to our garden fence but my father quenched the blaze. One day on returning from visiting some relatives, we found all the french windows at the rear of the house broken by bomb blast. Some people were less lucky and had their houses destroyed. One large bomb fell on the local games field but did not explode. The bomb disposal squad kept us away and before blowing it up in situ, at a well advertised time. We all went to watch. A huge plume of soil shot into the air followed by a huge bang. We all rushed forward to claim bits ot bomb casing. I got to one magnificent piece but it was far too hot to pick up, and an older boy took my trophy.
Food rationing was a problem for my mother. We had to queue for everything. We were the lucky recpients of food parcels twice which was a help. Towards the end of the war, I was affected by boils on my legs. Whether these were due to a poor diet I don’t know, but one of them needed lancing in hospital. I was eventually cured with new wonder drug called MandB tablets.The car was up on bricks in the garage. The local pub received the barrels by steam lorry. Because petrol was so short, the buses towed trailers which generated a gaseous fuel stored in large bags on the roof. Some of the boys at school were able to get exotic things like peanuts because their fathers worked at the docks. The local builder, unable to continue his normal trade, was employed at Cammel —Lairds making submarines.
John Bagley. Now resident in Oakham, Rutland.

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