大象传媒

My first memory of the war was when war was declared my mother was outside talking to a friend and she rushed in to listen to the radio. She came out crying her eyes out. My father who was in the territorial army was called up immediately on the 1st September, on the 3rd September we were all evacuated from school. We were gathered together with our little sachels and bags with labels on us. I went off to a little village called Weston in Hertfordshire and was evacuated to a farm. Unfortunately when I came there I didn't like carrots or cauliflour, or other vegetables. I was given them for breakfast, dinner and tea and eventually I learned to enjoy them.
My time there was short lived as a relative of theirs came to live on the farm and I was moved on from there and moved about a bit. I went to live with a gamekeeper which was quite exciting. One unfortunate place I was sent was to an old widow about five miles from the village so I had to walk to school every day and there was no electricity in the house, the toilet was by a pond at the bottom of the garden and we were frightened of falling in. Whilst there we had to peel walnuts in the season and our fingers would be red raw.
At this time I was 8 years old. My father came home on leave and when he found out, he had us moved straight away. Then I went to live with the lady of a big house, Lady Graigson and she was wonderful. Unfortunately her husband was killed in North Africa at which point my mother had moved to Hull because my father was stationed with the Royal Artilary in Hull. We went to escape the London bombings to be safe in Hull. Not knowing that later Hull would become one of the most bombed cities!

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