大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Adela Tinsley nee Griffin, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was David Reid, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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I was only 10 when the war was on, and my memories is 鈥� My mother had 7 of a family. She really had 9, but 2 died. And during the war my brother, my oldest brother, went on the Caroline. He went on HMS Caroline. He was only, he was very young, he was 16. And he never got home for 2 yrs because the war broke out. And he had to go to war, and my mother was very distracted about that. We always had to go and we always had to pray for the soldiers and the sailors, but we always had to go back to the sailors. And we had to get up when the sirens went, and we went 鈥� we took my grandmother, my daddy鈥檚 old aunt, and we took them away up the mountain road, and we used to hide in the trees on the mountain road. And then I had an auntie that lived next door, and you called her Ada Reed. And my auntie was an invalid and she lay on her back and she could not be moved at all during the war. There was no way at all, if a bomb hit the house or anything, my auntie would have had to stay there. But there was a gentleman on our street, he used to say 鈥淎da, I鈥檒l stay with you while these bombs 鈥︹�� and she used to pray and stay. During the time of the Blitz, the 2 houses, 2 streets away, the houses got bombed and the Air Raid Wardens and all had to go round all the shelters and whenever my mother, I was in bed this night and my mother said to my father 鈥渏ust bring her down, because we might as well all be killed together鈥�. But when that bomb went off the ceiling in my room went down. So there you are, I was really saved in that.
But there was a lot of things went on. We had, they used to give wee stirrup-pumps and things, we used to have wee meetings in the street. All us children gathered around and we all had the thing. There was this lady in the street, she used to get up and tell us about the outnine and when the Germans come and all. I think she was the first one out of the street. In the time that my brother was away, on the Easter Tuesday of the blitz, the Navy man passed the window and my sister and her future mother-in-law, their house was bombed on Woodvale road so they were all in our house. And this Navy hat passed the window. And my mummy said 鈥淭here鈥檚 a Navy man passing my window鈥� and it was my brother. After 2 years he got home! And my brother was, we all got 鈥� He couldn鈥檛 get his kitbag down, we all got round him, we all hugged him and kissed him. I was wee, I held onto his leg. He鈥檚 still living today, and he had 3 friends of his and my mother got friendly with their mothers. They used to come, and they got on with me. They came, and one of the times whenever they came home, and Walton St on the Crumlin Rd, it got bombed and the Navy fellow called Brown, Alec Brown 鈥� when he went up the street we met him up. And his mother and his AF brother was killed. She never seen him, and my mother used to say 鈥渨hen our sons come home, when they come home鈥�, you know? But during all that time my grandmother was very old. It was very hard for us to get her up the road. But we always had to worry about my auntie. And everybody in the street used to worry about my aunt Ada. For she was very precious to everybody. But they really didn鈥檛, in our street, we really didn鈥檛 get hurt. But down the Shankill rd, in Percy st, they bombed the shelter. They bombed the shelter, and all the people was all killed in the shelter. And they were all killed in that shelter, I鈥檓 sure here some people who鈥檒l tell you.

My husband鈥檚 house, he was young too at the time, and their house was bombed. They had to move out and my father-in-law, he was on the railways, and he came up the street. He thought his whole family was killed. But thankfully they were all 鈥� but I lived on the Shankill, and it was at Woodvale Park, a whole lot of people were killed there. They were hiding in the trees there, and they all got shot behind Woodvale Park. So we were very lucky it was able, and then one of my sisters, she just wanted to lay down and die. She just didn鈥檛 want to go any further when we were going up the road there. Till then we had to push my granny because she wasn鈥檛 able to go up there.
Up where the trouble is, up at Ballymurphy, up at round that way. We lived in Chipperfield St, you see? And that was near the Springfield Rd. So it was the Springfield rd, we had to walk all the way up there. Into the mountains, and hide in the wee ditches and all. My mother and I, my Father had a wee plot up there, he had a plot for sale here. And we went over to stay on his wee plot over at Springfield Rd. and then this man came down, and he said 鈥渋s there anyone there?鈥� We were all talking to my mummy, and he says 鈥渋s there anybody in there?鈥� and she says 鈥測es, it鈥檚 me and my wee children.鈥� He says 鈥測ou鈥檇 better get out, because that shrapnel鈥檚 all falling behind you. You鈥檇 better get out of there鈥�. We had to get out and walk on up the road, so it was very very hard for us all to do. People in the street, and we got knocked up and locked up, you know what I mean? Everybody locked everybody鈥檚 doors and the sirens went off to get everybody out. And I鈥檒l never forget the stirrup pump. It was a bucket with this stirrup pump, and there was water, and if the house got bombed you had to put the fire out with this. You put it in the bucket and you pressed it up and down and that鈥檚 how they would have put the fires out and things like that.
I was at school. School was just the very same. School was just, you always had a practice every morning to put the gas mask on. And that鈥檚, in school was just the same as it 鈥� I think school was better then. I really do. You were more stricter. You were allowed to cane. You鈥檙e not allowed to do that now. You鈥檙e not allowed to say 鈥淏oo鈥�.

[war effect on school?]
Oh no, you had to go to school. It didn鈥檛 matter 鈥� thick or thin, you had to go to school. There was no such a thing as stay at home. And the wee gas-masks, wee brown cardboard box, wee square thing, you had to carry that.

It was very smothery, you know what I mean? I didn鈥檛 like it at all. I would have held it up a wee bit to get a wee breath. I didn鈥檛 like it at all. But my sister had twins at the time, and her twins were born during the war, and they had to go in this big big gas mask. It was a big round cagey thing, and they had to go inside. We sort of pumped the air in, out and in. they didn鈥檛 know anything about it, but we were a bit frightened. We didn鈥檛 like my sister to put them in it, we said 鈥渄on鈥檛 put them in there鈥�, but you had to have them. You had to carry them about, you know? So 鈥�

My brother came home safe, and he鈥檚 still living today. Just doesn鈥檛 like to talk about the war. He was in Singapore and all round that way. But he doesn鈥檛 talk about his friends that got killed. He was on the HMS Durban, and it was all round Singapore and round that way. But he just used to tell us, he didn鈥檛 talk about the war because some of his friends and all got killed. One of his Navy friends, now, he got, he was getting married and he went away and he was getting leave, he didn鈥檛 go home to get married 鈥� he got killed. And then I had a cousin, and he got killed out in Burma. He was only 17 when he joined the war, and he got killed. He didn鈥檛 come home either. But his sisters, they鈥檙e nearly all dead now, but they got out to see where the graves are. They got out there about 5 yrs ago to see where their brother was. Now, isn鈥檛 that important? That was very good.

It鈥檚 really very 鈥� in my mind I can remember everything about what we had to do and what we didn鈥檛 have to do. Some people ask 鈥淗ow do you remember that?鈥� I remembered it because I was always worried about my auntie that had to stay at home because she couldn鈥檛 get moved. But she was brilliant, she was great, she didn鈥檛 mind.

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