大象传媒

My name is Patricia Joy Raynes Barnicott (nee Hollingworth), born 7th December 1937, under 2 years old at the outbreak of war, 3rd September 1939. I lived with my parents in Southwick, a village on the south coast of England, between Brighton and Worthing in the county of Sussex, as it was then.
My father, Thomas Amos Hollingworth, Shipping Manager, acted as interpreter whenever a foreign ship, often Russian, anchored in Shoreham Harbour. He was a member of the Air Raid Patrol Force and a Special Constable in the Police Force. Times were hard, food was rationed and blackouts were the rule.
Enemy aircraft, "gerries", as my mother, Irene Francis Hollingworth,called them, entered England via the southeast coast over Kent and Sussex en route for London and other cities, often passing over Southwick and Shoreham Harbour at night. They thought the single storey Senior Girls' Secondary Modern School nearby was an amunitions factory and tried to bomb it.
One night in 1940, when I was almost three years old, a piece of shrapnel became lodged in the rafters directly above my cot. My father grabbed me. If this had become dislodged, it would have killed me.
On another occasion two houses next to the school were completely demolished, killing the occupants of one. Miss Peel, Headmistress of the Girls' School, was fortunately away from home.
On 20th Feburary 1941 a bomb fell underneath St. Michael and All Angels Church. A rope was placed across the road and along the southern boundary of our property in Oldfield Crescent, to prevent traffic continuing down the road. Everyone between the church and our house was evacuated. My parents chose to remain. We were known as the first house past the rope!
The tower of the church was taken down to roof level brick by brick, each one being numbered and carefully stored for re-use. This difficult task took months and we lived in fear of the bomb exploding. New Year 1943, the all clear siren sounded. The Canadian Engineers had finally managed to dig down deep enough and defuse the 500lb high explosive bomb in its pit and bring it to the surface, thus evading a major disaster. Some years later, the church tower was slowly rebuilt.
From the age of 5 years (1943), I attended Froebel School, a small co-educational private kindergarten. When the air raid siren sounded, we left our classrooms and trooped downstairs to the iron framed Andersen shelter. We crawled inside and sat cross-legged until the 'all-clear' sounded.
On 8th May 1945 on returning to London by train from visiting cousins, my mother and I were astonished to see bunting and Union Jacks everywhere. The platform was thronged with people excitedly waving flags and cheering loudly.
The war was over - this was what was to become known as V.E.(Victory in Europe)Day. A sight I shall never forget.

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