大象传媒

I must one of the few children to have been evacuated from Dovercourt, on the Essex Coast, to Leyton, London. I was the last to leave and the first to return. From 1939 to 1944 I spent most of school years back at Dovercourt, but there was a time when it got 'hot' I was sent to Kedington in Suffolk. Just before Victory I was again in London, and saw the Doddlebugs.

When the war began my father became an ARP Warden. We had a Czech military photographer assigned to our house. I was at Hill Primary School, Dovercourt. There was a gun position on top of the building.

After Dunkirk my School was evacuated to Gloucestershire. My father wanted my mother and I to go and stay with relatives in Leyton, London. It was not long before we were back. At first there was no schooling but my education resumed and by 1943 I was at Harwich County High.

There was lots of activity around Harwich and Dovercourt. An uncle worked on the railways. I learnt afterwards that he was taking bombs from London to a distribution point (probably Burnes, Suffolk - Ispwich Museum). The black-out was strict. On November the 5th we had indoor fireworks and small sparklers.

I can remember one raid. I was walking to school, past the football pitch by the sea-front. There was an air-raid and I was stuck half-between the High and home. I saw an approaching plane, and suddenly some soliders took me and pushed me to the ground. The aircraft machine let fly its machine guns. No-one was hurt.

At the time I couldn't believe it was real. It was almost fun.

It was so 'hot' at one point that I went away again, this time to Kedington, near Haverhill, Suffolk. I was dressed in a poke bonnet and a high-waisted dress and sent to fetch milk with a little governess cart. It was an interesting feeling, as if I was in another generation.

We didn't, however, escape the war. A mine landed in the yard. My father said, "If Jerry's going to get us, he'll get us anywhere" and I came back again to Dovercourt. I can recall seeing a poster, 'To Help our Boys, Do your Bit and End it', and painting a model spitfire for fund-raising. Then the Doodlebugs came over. I was once pushed into a shelter so hard that I had scarred shins and arms. Still, I never ever knew fear.

Yet again I ended up in London. I saw the Doddlebugs near Walthamstowe. I wasn't there long. We took the steam train home when it ended.

Told to Ipswich Museum and reproduced with Mrs Tyrer's permission.

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