大象传媒

Coming home from the park in Dagenham,when an airraid sounded, the aircraft came over bombing the docks on the river, i ran home to be met by mam, but I had a job getting across the road to her. Finally we ran to the shelter dad had made in the garden we stayed in Dagenham eight months as the bombs reigned, as mum couldn't bear to let us go.
Our names are Terrence Frank Hunter aged 10, Heather Winnifred Hunter aged 6,1/2, it was April 1940.
The day we travelled to Oakhill, Somerset on evacuation we left behind us the bombing in Broad street Dagenham Essex,and many nights in the shelter,dad made it as comfortable as possible,we even had a wireless,biscuits and drinks as we spent many nights in the shelter, we never got undressed for bed we were always ready to run down to the shelter in the garden.
Our journey on the train was an adventure all us children with our cases,gas masks, and sandwiches and labels,after a while the train stopped,don't ask me where? but we were all led to a room in the station, where we had our heads checked for nits fortunatly we were clear of them which was a good job as the stuff the unfortunates had put on their heads was horrible smelling. When we arrived at our new place to live we were taken to a playground with our cups and allowed to drink water from a bucket placed in the centre of a playground. Until people arrived to take each one of us to there homes.
Terry and I stayed together,we stayed one night at a place called Little London,next day we met the people who would look after us Miss Flo Mines, Percy her brother and Mr Mines there father.
We lived there for four years, they were kind people and looked after us well! Although Terry wrote home to mum telling her to send him some money because he was hungry. Our school was next door,it was a church school so we had to visit the church quite often i thought it was boring,many funerals of young men who died in the war so many tears.
Granpa Mines was kind he would sit me on his knee and quote cheeky rhymes to me and sing songs, once I knitted a scarf which was multi-coloured for him,and recieved the sixpence he promised, he wore it down the allotments think it must have been 3 inches wide and well streched. Mam taught me to knit when they came to visit us a one Christmas. Dad came as well he was by now in the R.A.F and would visit us when he could.
Percy the brother worked at the brewery down the road. So we always had a good supply of cider. My brother Terry and I would be given some at bedtime with some cheese to make us sleep.
The years spent in Oakhill we went on many nature walks with the school trips to Western Super Mare were I saw Punch and Judy on the sands we had day trips to Cheddar Gorge also day trips to Bristol and Bath visiting people with Flo Mines on which I suffered from travel sickness.
On a weekend Terry and I would go for long walks to Shepton Mallet three miles away or just anywhere by ourselves we would just sing at the top of our voices. (oh what freedom). I also joined the brownies and Terry joined a boys club so he had his friends.
After school we would walk down to Squireswood to us it was a different world bluebells,frogspawn,hills which we would climb as if a mountain and collect firewood for auntie Flo in our wheelbarrow in the Winter.Terry had a sledge,we played in a hilly field and had lots of laughs.
We came home in 1944, because of berievements in our carers family.
By this time mum had moved back to Yorkshire,Kinston Upon Hull and dad would soon be demobed. one more year of bombs and disruction so we had to get to know mam and dad again,Whilst sitting in the Holderness road street shelter.back to the bombs again on many nights, but still this is a brief account of our war.Although one morning sticks out in my mind ,as we went to school after an air raid people had been injured and there was blood on the Holderness road flags and sawdust covering it in a hasty attempt to clear the mess I must have become hardened to the sights as I did not think a great deal of it at the time.only years after does the horror strike home.

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