大象传媒

I was not 9 years old when the war started, so had little idea of what was really happening.

I was evacuated almost immediately with my school, (in Newcastle-upon-Tyne) to Alnwick, further north in Northumberland, where lessons were held in Alnwick Castle.
I remember we were taken from the railway station to a hall, where local families able to offer accommodation turned up to choose their 'guests', my best friend Helen was selected long before I was.
A kindly family took me in but could do nothing about my homesickness.
Because there had been little happening on the war front.
I was brought home at the end of the term and for a short time sent to another local school that had also been evacuated.

Although Newcastle was bombed along the docks and river I remember little war damage.
We had a tall Victorian terraced house with a tiny front garden and only a concrete yard at the back so no room for a shelter, we used a cupboard under the stairs, although we also had a sturdy kitchen table which would have done in an emergency.
The cupboard was stocked with a few emergency provisions and there were only chairs as there was no room to lie down, so it was only used if an-air raid seemed to be getting too close for comfort. These tended to be at night rather than during the day but one day when I was walking down our back lane towards some nearby shops I saw a German plane flying towards me quite low, the fishmonger ran out and rushed me down to his cellar just as there was a burst of machine gun fire, we thought the pilot was using up ammunition before flying home.

Collecting shrapnel was a prime occupation amongst the young, as we showed off our trophies after a raid.

My new school had about 150 girls between the ages of 5 and 17, many of the others having been previously evacuated more permanently, so classes were small and despite the war it was a happy time.

We were all urged to make an effort to help, which included buying National Saving stamps, and the classes competed weekly to see which could raise the most.
The money went to the Government to help with the cost of the war, and was repaid long before the war ended, but with interest.
We made 'comforts' for the troops, largely knitted socks and balaclava helmets, some of which left much to be desired.

Towards the end of the war, my school adopted a battleship and we used to send them knitted goods and pen letters, many of the soldiers became individual pen-friends, though I don't think the correspondence lasted once the war had ended.

On occasions we were taken to pick nettles, these were used to extract chlorophyll.
Any unwanted scrap metal was collected, much as bottles and newspaper are now, the metal being melted down to make planes and contribute to the war effort.

Food was strictly rationed and remained so for several years after the war ended.
My mother made the most of what was available and we were never hungry, in fact we probably lived more healthily than today's children.

We had a Scottie dog, called Sooty, and manufactured dog food was unavailable in those days, so he was fed 'lights' (the insides of animals not fit for human consumption) and horsemeat.
I remember queuing for this at the local horsemeat shop, but fortunately we were never reduced to eating this ourselves.
The sweet ration was 2oz a week, (50g the equivalent of a chocolate bar now) and I discovered that you could get 8 fruit jellies for this weight, so I could eat 1 a day and have two for Sunday.
When there was anything special available the sweet shop proprietors usually saved those for their families and good customers, so choice was limited.
I remember on one occasion I couldn't decide which to choose and after some considerable time asked the shop keeper if he had anything else, at which point he lost patience and marched me out of his shop!

The day the war finally ended, (VJ Day) we were on holiday in Bournemouth and everyone was waiting for news.
My mother insisted I go to bed eventually but promised to come and wake me if the news came through early enough.

However I was sleeping so soundly she couldn't arouse me and you can imagine my feelings the next morning when I heard that everyone had been out in the streets dancing and I had slept through it all!

Anne Bradford

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