大象传媒

Evacuation 鈥� meeting children at the station. I was aged 15 years then. Children were crying 鈥� everything seemed chaotic. They were taken to various halls around town with billeting officers. The billeting officers had to take names and ages. The children wore gas masks around their necks and gripped small suitcases or carrier bags 鈥� they looked tired and scared and worried. Brothers and sisters were hanging on to each other for grim death.

You couldn鈥檛 leave your area at the beginning of the war without reporting to the police so people didn鈥檛 travel far but as the war progressed it did not seem to matter. We had to carry identity cards at all times. We went to Olney on one occasion to meet with the Free French at a garden party. We met General de Gaulle who appeared to be so dour and haughty and we did not like him. We were able to practice our French which they seemed to understand and at that time we thought was good. We kept in touch with some of the Free French soldiers for a while. We usually went everywhere on bicycles.

I worked in the evacuation office at the TownHall and went back to school for half a day as we had other London schools evacuated in our school and they had one half the day and we had the other. Eventually I was asked to do full-time at the Town Hall. The day after Dunkirk I went to work and found a Scottish regiment lining the corridor of the Town Hall downstairs. They were everywhere and sitting or lying on the bare concrete of the corridor 鈥� they looked tired and dishevelled and some looked vacant. We spoke to them, but they never said why they were there. We had not yet heard of the evacuation of Dunkirk so we didn鈥檛 know why they were there. Several gave me souvenirs like a cap badge; a lighter made from a cartridge case, etc. We had to do Civil Defence duty at the Town Hall and stay all night. There were usually several of us on duty and we were on a rota. If any important information came through we had to call out the Wardens and other officers, but nothing ever seemed to happen when I was on duty.

Sweets were rationed but sometimes we got certain things off ration. Shop windows were mostly empty. Things like biscuits were hard to come by. When someone was having an important birthday (say 21) relations, family and friends saved their rations of dried fruit, dried eggs, etc. to give for making a birthday or wedding cake. Almond paste was made from biscuit crumbs and almond essence.

In 1940 or 41 there was a big freeze 鈥� the roads were frozen and rutted for several weeks. People went about their business slipping and sliding. Only the main roads were cleared, but were dangerously slippery. We stayed home most nights and did a lot of knitting and sewing for the Forces and ourselves. My mother was a member of the WRVS and was always knitting oily socks for the navy. We knitted balaclavas, gloves, scarves, etc. We listened to the radio and records on the gramophone 鈥� we played card games and generally made the most of our free time. Coal for fires was short and people used to go down to the railway sidings with buckets and pick up coal that had fallen from trucks. The coal ration was small and one had to gather wood to eke it out.

Food was good. Housewives were always queuing for food. If anyone saw a queue they joined it because they knew there must be something unrationed in the shop such as offal or sausages. We seemed to have enough to eat for growing teenagers and there were plenty of vegetables. People grew their own in plots on allotments and in gardens. Housewives made up recipes which were tasty and wholesome. Fish was not rationed but not easy to come by 鈥� we had whalemeat, which was red in colour, and my father went fishing and occasionally was able to shoot a rabbit which helped out the rations. In summer housewives bottled and jammed fruits from the gardens and allotments. People seemed generous and shared what they had grown and especially they looked after the older generations. Everyone pulled together and helped each other out. I still have some wartime recipe books that belonged to my mother. We helped with haymaking and harvesting on the local farms because so many men were away at war 鈥� it was great fun when young. My recollection is that people seemed to be happy and friendly and helpful. Daily life went on as usual. Although it seems terrible now to say that most of us young ones enjoyed the war because there was always so much movement and excitement. Some people had air raid shelters in their gardens, but we had one in Russell Park at the end of the road, although I never remember going into it.

We went to concerts at the Corn Exchange in the lunch hour 鈥� I think it was the London Philharmonic that played there. These concerts were free and always packed. Glenn Millar practised at a hall near the gas works in Queens Park. We used to go and listen to them as my friend lived in Queens Park and went out with a member of the band. She eventually married and went to USA after the war.

Everyone gathered round the radio at news time and we had maps on the wall to mark where the troops were. Gradually boys we knew at school joined up and went away so there was always much letter writing. Many Forces were stationed in or near Bedford 鈥� RAF and Army. We went to dances at the Corn Exchange and Dujon in the High Street. I had to be home by 10 o鈥檆 and my Father would be waiting at the gate and woe betide me if I was late. I felt this was very unfair as the dances never really got going until about 9o鈥檆, but when grown up with my own children I understood why. I had many Forces friends 鈥� people came into your life and went out again all the time. Riding bikes in the blackout was precarious. Everyone had blackout material at the windows at night so the streets were dark. My father was an air raid warden, so we were very strict at home with the blackout. We got used to air raid sirens and were not worried. The air raid shelters were in Russell Park, but most people did not use them. It was an exciting time for the young teenagers and we were not really aware of the seriousness of things.

My friend and I cycled all the way to London after the 1940 bombing and stayed in Highgate YHA and went into London by metro. We saw all the people sleeping on bunk beds and on the ground in the underground 鈥� babies were crying and the noise was terrible. We saw the devastation and the bomb sites in the city.

I then joined the Land Army. My parents wouldn鈥檛 allow me to join the Forces, as I was underage, but you did not have to get your parents permission to join the Land Army, so I joined and it was a 鈥渇ait accompli鈥�. Life on the land was hard but enjoyable. I was put on a market garden at Colnbrook, Bucks at first, and worked with the gypsies 鈥� I was the only house dweller among them. Their camp was on the farmer鈥檚 farm and they invited me round one evening. They had the typical gypsy caravans, which were spotlessly clean, and they whittled pegs and made baskets in the evening. When the Land Army Welfare Officer came round she said the place was not suitable for me and put me on another farm in Datchet Bucks. I was in sole charge of a poultry farm of 3,000 or more birds and was alone all day, except for a man who came in the morning to light the boiler to boil up the potatoes for the mash and help with the feeding and a boy who came in twice a week to help clean out the hen houses. We had show birds and I used to take them to shows in London and elsewhere and win prizes. The poultry were in a huge orchard and I used to gorge myself on the fruit in the summer. There were geese in the stack yard that I had to cross and the gander would always chase me. Guinea fowl were in the orchard and acted as watchdogs. I had to learn to kill chicken and to pluck and draw them. My wrists weren鈥檛 strong and at my first attempt it took many tries to break the neck by screwing and pulling. When that didn鈥檛 work I tried a blow on the head and was getting more and more desperate. Eventually I thought I had killed it and put it down on the ground, but it got up and ran drunkenly around for a while. I was horrified because I knew the neck was broken and I couldn鈥檛 understand why the chicken was still alive and moving. I discovered later that although the bird was dead, the nerves made it react in this way.

The hours were long and the weekends non-existent. In summer I couldn鈥檛 lock up the hen houses until it got dark, as the chickens didn鈥檛 roost until then. In winter the working hours were shorter. There was very little leave in a year and we were only paid 23 shillings a week and 21 of those had to go for lodgings. I was first billeted with the head cowman and had a washbasin with cold water to wash in 鈥� in the winter the water would have ice on it and I had a candle to go to bed with. There was electricity downstairs but not upstairs. The toilet was outside. My other billets were a great improvement.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.