大象传媒

I was 12 when the war broke out. We were evacuated to Hassocks near Brighton. We were only there for three days. I was with a school friend and we got taken to an elderly family who didn鈥檛 really want us there. But they had to take us in. They used to lock me up in rooms.
My mother was evacuated with my little brother. My mother found out and took us back to London

Then the real bombing started. We used to shelter with my uncle in a block of flats. Once we were coming down to shelter through the fire escape and these planes started machine gunning us. I was a kid and we were crouched against the wall before we could get to the shelter. At the time it didn鈥檛 sink in, but looking back on it was horrible.

It ruined our lives. My mother didn鈥檛 live very long after the war as it was too horrific. It interrupted our lives but fortunately none of our family were in the war but it was mental disruption

We were evacuated again to High Wycombe. This time I was with the family. We stayed in a country place called Radley. We stayed with a family who also didn鈥檛 want us. It was very very tedious. People who make trouble want to try and live like that for 9 months. They were simple country folk. They just saw us as silly cockneys. It was horrible.

I was too young to be called up - another year and I would have also been called up. We all got evacuated to a place called Blechley near Milton Keynes. We all stayed together here so it was nice. I was 14 by then and started working at the co-op.

There was no schooling and I finished school at 12. All that we鈥檝e learnt is through tv and what we read. What could you do? People were getting killed by the million so going to school was nothing really. But I do wish we鈥檇 had a bit more normality.

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