大象传媒

I was 11 years of age when war was declared. and as my father was an officer in the Southgate Fire Brigade we lived in the Town Hall....the Fire Brigade Flats at the rear of the Fire Station were too small for our family of seven children.
I remember the minute War was declared, when the first siren sounded shortly after Chamberlain's declaration that we were at War. My sister immeditely put on her gas mask and cried "I don't want to die (she was only 9)...my mother soaked blankets in water and hung them over the doors in case we were attacked with gas bombs. We were told to lie down against the central wall of our home, but I could not resist looking out of the window because I was expecting to see Germans in their helmets walking up Green Lanes.
My bedroom looked out on to the Mortuary and after a bombing raid n Palmers Green people would come to the Mortuary to try to identify the dead. My father and brother were in the Southgate Fire Brigade so they were in the London Blitz, I remember them returning after a few days in London, dirty, tired and exhausted only to be called back again that night...this went on for weeks.
Living in the Town Hall during the War I was in the middle of all the activity but I can't remember being frightened....although I know my mother was terrified of us being out of her sight. My sister and I went to St Angelas Convent because it was "jusr across the road" and Mum would know when there was an air raid she could "see" we were safe.
After the bombing of Oakthorpe Road and other places near I would go out to survey the damage only to hear people saying "That was meant for the Town Hall", which did make me a bit scared. But we all survived, one brother in the ~Royal Marines, another brother in the Signals and a sister in the WRNS. One brother worked for the Standard Telephone Company making ammunition and my eldest brother in the Fire Service. So the Waltons did their bit.

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