大象传媒

My memories of the war are a succession of impressions and snippets as I was only 6 in 1939. My father worked for Shorditch Borough Council and contributed with firewatching duties on the roof of Old Street Town Hall (He had bad eyesight and was therefore not 'called up'. My grandfather did similar duties for Lewisham Borough Council where my mother's brother was in the AFS. At the outbreak of war a neighbour with contacts in Devon arranged for my mother and I to go to Colyton in Devon. We soon came home again as nothing seemed to be happening but went again after the blitz started. My father erected an An derson shelter at the bottom of the garden and I remember him having to leave a plank in the pit to allow a hedgehog to escape. The shelter was so well made it was still in the garden many years later and used as a 'fridge' before these were common place. Before leaving for Devon I remember going down to the shelter to sleep most nights and the smell of the early morning, also the smell of incendiaries after one fell in our garden and another went through the roof of a neighbour on to their bed. Their precautions were to put strenghtening beams in their dining room while my grandparents had a morrison shelter - most uncomfortable to sit at to eat as the metal was so hard and cold. In Colyton the second time I went to school, joined the brownies and apparently moved from family to family until settled at the home of Mrs.White. They had a double fronted house, and we were allowed to have one small front room and a bedroom where I was looked after, in turn, by my mother and grandmother. One with me and the other looking after the various menfolk back in West Wickham. My mother had to deal with the effects on my grandparents house when it suffered from a bomb a few doors along the road. I enjoyed my time in Devon but not the travelling through central London to get there. That felt threatening and I was relieved to be on the mainline train and could see the (advertising) hoardings saying we were first 'approaching' and then 'in' The Strong Country!! Many years later I learned the there was a Strongs Brewery. We eventually came home again until the Flying bombs started just after the birth of my sister in January 1944 so we then went up to a cousin on the outskirts of Stoke on Trent. I was thought very snooty at the school in Golden Hill where our cousin taught. Then it was the summer holidays and it was just being arranged for me to go to a nearby Grammar School when it was thought safe to return once more and I went back to the Beckenham Grammar School I'd started in September 1943.
While in Cheshire we visited Moreton Old Hall which made a great impression on me and we also had a day out in the Dane Valley, walking from Lake Rushton to Lake Rudyard (or vice versa). There I felt very lost but we eventually found a transport cafe where we were able to have a week's cheese ration on toast. The lorry driv ers were considered vital and allowed extra food.

Between evacuations I remember two trips out - one on a green bus (the sort that long bench seats for 4 upstairs and the gangway to one side. Mum noticed a lot of ladies with baskets and followed them to what turned out to be strawberry fields (nowadays a PYO) The second trip was by greenline again to Tunbridge Wells and we had to find a public shelter when the siren went but I think that was false alarm. (All for now - may add some more if there is time before the site closes.

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