大象传媒

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Jenny Gibbons of the 大象传媒 Hereford and Worcester CSV Action Desk on behalf of Mrs M R BEATSON and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'
I enjoyed the war, I was just five when it began and was about to start school. When Chamberlain made his announcement I was staying in Birmingham and my parents rushed over to collect me before the bombing started. Nothing happened for a year.
I did not miss the ice cream or fresh fruit because I couldn't remember them. My mother gave most of our tea and sweet coupons away in exchange for tokens for Government concentrated orange juice. Much better for me than sweets. One sweet a day was allowed after a teaspoon of cod liver oil. I liked the oil but I liked the sweets better.
The wireless was often on, I did not like the news as it was boring stuff, but liked Toy Town and Uncle Mac and the Radio Doctor. He said cooked nettles were good for you, full of iron. We tried them one day but they had no taste at all.
Mr Dodd a nice man from down the road would call every week to collect money in exchange for Government Saving Stamps. I did not know what these were for, but liked Mr Dodd.
My mother made me a shiny brown leather shoulder bag to carry my gas mask in. I was very proud of this as the other children mainly had cardboard boxes or dried milk tins.
The blackout was fun. My mother enjoyed make do and mend so we were always well clthed. My father took the 'Dig for Victory' call seriously and grew lots of peas with grubs in the pods. Shelling those peas was my worst war time memory.
I don't think there were many toys in the shops, but I was never short of dolls and dolls clothes were my favourite things. My father never threw anything away and made use of bits of metal, wood and leather to make toys. I still have a brown leather dolls chair he made and my brother has a contraption where you keep pulling a string and a Spitfire chased by a Messerschmitt goes round and round. We thought my dad a very clever man, apart from growing peas.
Each family was allowed an air raid shelter, either the Anderson type which went into the garden, or the Morrison which was like a reinforced table, which stayed in the home. Dad decided not to have either, instead he dug out a shelter underneath our dining room. It was a sturdy, concrete lined , little den. Once it was finished my brother and I slept in the dining room. I don't ever remember going into the shelter during an air raid but it made a good place to play on a wet day. The neighbours thought dad very foolish because if the house came down we would be burried beneath it.
One night while I was asleep a bomb did fall in a feild beyond our house. We all went to look at the hole it made. It was funny seeing the grown ups, who never appeared to leave their homes, walking about in the fields we played in.
I must have been lucky, the whole war period seemed a time of friendship and belonging, something I've never felt since. It probably did not seem the same to the adults. Not even our schooling was affected apart from a disruption once a week when a group of girls who were evacuated to Stafford used our gym facilities. We stared at these strange girls, climbing ropes and wall bars, as if they were creatures from another planet.
On V.E. Day I heard I had passed the exam later called the '11+'. Feeling rather pleased with myself I rushed home to find mum in conversation with the neighbours, all very excited at the news. My news was ignored. Hurt at first I then decided perhaps the end of the war was more important.

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