大象传媒

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This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bramley History Society and has been added to the website on behalf of Esme Ware with her permission and she fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

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Here are a few memories of life in England during the Second World War.

My husband was a young curate at St. Nicolas church, Guildford, early in the war. The rector, Father Lobb, and the two curates were trying to keep ordinary people brave and patient, and were doing the work of Chaplain in Guildford Hospital, which was then in the Farnham Road.

Every evening, except Sunday, the clergy and parishioners ran a dance in the church hall for young soldiers in training for battle, and for local girls to keep cheerful. Dance music records were played, and the clergy, in their cassocks, did not dance, but talked cheerfully to the young folk, and saw that no quarrels arose. At l0.00 p.m. army vehicles came and took all the young men back to their training camps. The girls went home safely. My husband had to walk home in the black-out to where we lived at the top of Farnham Road, before Onslow Village.

Fairly early in the war we slept upstairs, relying on the 鈥淎ll Clear鈥� to sound. One night in June, however, there was a mistake 鈥淎ll Clear鈥� which changed our routine. One enemy plane for some reason did not stay with the others who went on to bomb London, but turned round and got rid of its bombs over Guildford and raced away. The bombs must have been fairly small, and they seemed to fall in back gardens (one next door to us) but no-one was killed, not even one of the six hens which we kept for the sake of the eggs. I do remember the awful sound of earth that had been sent sky-high, coming down on our roof. One bomb came down in an allotment across the road, and the chalk sub-soil covered everywhere white. People came up next day in crowds to see the snow!

After this unexpected raid we never slept upstairs again. We had three young children, and they never wore night clothes, and slept on the floor in the dining-room with me and my husband when he got home. Later on the Parish Council provided us with a special steel table under which the three children and I spent the night, and my husband rested along-side as there was no room for him under the table.

We could never put the children into the bath upstairs. When they were small I bathed them in the kitchen sink. I never wore night clothes, but washed and changed in the afternoon, when I had the chance. What a joy it was when the war ended so suddenly! We moved to Blackheath, Surrey, and gradually got used to a normal life. We took the children to play in Albury stream and called it the sea-side, we could not go to the real sea-side as all the beaches were mined.

My Guildford friend鈥檚 son had been taken prisoner in Japan, and she never heard if he was alive or dead, (no Red Cross postcards allowed to be sent home). One day he just walked into her house 鈥� alive! The navy had brought the prisoners home.

What happened to Hitler? We never heard.

No more wars, please, please.

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