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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Jeffrey Calvert, a volunteer from Three Counties Action, at the Chells Community Centre, Stevenage on 17 August 2005 on behalf of Ann Martin (nee Croft) and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs Martin fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was four when war broke out. I attended nursery in Brentford, but was soon told that I could not go again. This was fortunate as later, the empty nursery suffered a direct hit.

My parents and I lived with my grandparents. We had no shelter in the garden, so when the sirens went off one Saturday night, Grandma, Mum and I went in the cupboard under the stairs. Grandpa stayed in his chair by the fire. He was in his 80’s. My uncle and his wife hid under the kitchen table,

There was a dreadful bang. I remember coming out of the cupboard covered in dust. The ceiling had come down. There was glass everywhere.

A nearby block of flats had suffered a direct hit. It must have been awfully worrying for my uncle and dad who were acting as fire wardens that night.

We had to leave our house and were moved to a house in Ealing. The indoor loo was not only a luxury (In Brentford it was right at the bottom of the garden), but it also gave a wonderful vantage point — standing on the loo seat, watching the planes, bombs and searchlights.

These are the bits that stick in my memory (and Mars Bars of course, when they were rationed).

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