大象传媒

Apart from knowing Walsall and Sutton Coldfield few children I knew did not know any place other than the village. The first time I saw the sea was when I was taken to Blackpool on the train after I left Aldridge. People rarely left home during the war to go on holiday and if they did it was to somewhere in England and then usually to stay with friends or relatives. Some parts of the country were out of bounds because of military action while others were too dangerous because of the bombing.

From time to time army vehicles would be seen - especially trucks when the Americans arrived. One of the Satchwell boys used to drive tanks which were repaired locally. When he came home he would park his tank outside the farm in Tynings Lane and in the hard winter of 1947 he was employed clearing the road with his tank fitted with a snow plough. Trailers often carried whole or parts of aircraft to and from the airfield to be repaired and it was not uncommon to see dozens of aircraft either on the runway or either side of it. By and large Aldridge was off the beaten track so far as the war effort was concerned with no large numbers of troops, guns and tanks.

When I went to see my grandparents I was always taken by train from Walsall station. In those days there were only steam locomotives. (A train is a set of coaches or trucks pulled by a locomotive - in those days a steam locomotive. A set of coaches or trucks becomes a train when attached to a locomotive.) Some trains went over Cannock Chase and a sight to look for was an old, steam powered beam engine which used to pump water for the public water supply company. Other trains went through Wolverhampton. In either case the lines joined up at Stafford on the main west coast line north and south. Unlike Aldridge this line had four tracks, two fast and two slow. My grandfather was a signal man in Standon Bridge signal box at a station which has long vanished. While on holiday I used to watch the trains and many of these trains carried large numbers of lorries, tanks and large guns. Mother鈥檚 younger brother, Joe, was a tank welder at English Electric at Stafford where hundreds of tanks were made during the war - you could see them lined up as the train passed the factory. He was sent to Russia to show them how to weld tanks during the war. Trains were often full of soldiers. The whole area around Eccleshall and Swinnerton, off the main line at Norton Bridge, was given over to the production of munitions and it was on holiday that the physical signs of war could be seen. The main line was always extremely busy with famous trains such as The Coronation Scot and, from time to time, The Flying Scotsman. Trains passed every few minutes, both day and night, goods trains - often tanker trains full of fuel - and passenger trains alike. Local trains stopped at intermediate stations and took the slow lines while express trains stopped only at important stations and took the fast lines. By contrast the railway at Aldridge with the odd passenger train and trains of coal and bricks from the branch line leading to Walsall Wood was a non-event. At weekends trains ran from Walsall to Sutton Park but I never used one because the bus ran past the front door and it was easier to use that.

(This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Wyre Forest Volunteer Bureau on behalf of Paul Bailey and has been added to this site with his permission. Mr Bailey fully understand the site's terms and conditions.)

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