大象传媒

My sister and I spent many a night sitting on the cellar steps, just under the stairs of the house, (the cellar was not considered safe) listening to the bombers flying overhead. My mother used to put earplugs in her ears! Occasionally we could hear a bomb drop but mostly (I think) they were on their way past us in Walsall, to Liverpool. Later on we used to go to the communal shelters. At 8 every night, we would carry blankets and cushions and along with other families spend most of the night there. There were a few bunk beds for us children - I was dressed in my navy blue "siren suit" just like Churchill's. I used to wonder where all the fathers were, mine was too old to join up, he had served in the First World War. We would come out of the shelters and see the red glow in the sky towards Birmingham. We would also see people carrying pieces of shrapnel and sometimes unexploded bombs as keepsakes! We were told not to pick up unusual items. One day my Dad found in the front garden near the privet hedge,(the palings had been removed) what looked like a walking stick with a ball on the top about the size of a tennis ball - it was made of solid lead - the police took it away!

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