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This story has been written to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People's War site by CSV Storygatherer, Coralie, on behalf of Philippa Gould. It has been added with her permission, and Philippa agrees to the terms and conditions of the site.

(Continued from Part I - A5387736)

In 1940, a hospital was organised, for the forces, in what had been a hotel, in St. Peter Street, very near the Castle. We were asked to lodge some of the nurses. This was a good thing for me, as I knew some of them and they were mostly around my age, so I made some friends and they loved Jane. She was growing a pace and was a happy little person and very friendly.

So the war went on. We had bombers for Bristol etc coming over us most pm’s. We always knew the sound of German bombers, I’m not sure how!!! We had a lot of air-raid warnings as they came close to us, but we had no shelter so congregated in the dining room. We could always have got under the large dining room table, but this was never necessary, though one or two bombs were dropped on Tiverton and around, as the Germans went home with some bombs not dropped on their targets.

When Jane was 11 months old, she started to have attacks of asthma, a family complaint, which has never afflicted me. I eventually took her to stay with an uncle who was a TB doctor, and who had a friend who was an asthma specialist. He set up a testing system and found she was allergic to every sort of dust. This was in 1941. By 1942, it was decided that it would be best for Jane and self to move back into our flat in Exeter, which luckily at this point did not have tenants. I had to get rid of all feather pillows and keep dust to a minimum. This was certainly better for Jane, but she still had attacks.

Then Exeter was bombed, which was unpleasant to say the least. But the raid of May 3rd 1942 was terrific. Exeter had no defences. This was known as a Baedeker raid, as we had bombed the German town of Lubeck, another very historic place, but they also had areas which were vital to the war effort, which is what we were bombing. An air- raid shelter had been built for me by the Forces in Topsham barracks, just down the road from me. I carried Jane down when the sirens went and Exeter was lit up by green flares. The bombing was HORRIFIC. I never thought I’d live, but I had Jane cheering for Humpty Dumpty falling Bang. The sacking at the front of the shelter was blown in on us most of the time by the blasts. The barracks had one gun which did good work and brought down one plane. It went on for a long time. I didn’t think my legs would support me when the ‘all clear’ siren went off, but I was able to carry Jane up to our flat. Windows were broken and ceilings were coming down and it was awful. Of course, with all the dust Jane had an awful attack of asthma. I realised that by some means I must get her out of Exeter, so next morning my kind friend, from the flat above me, came in to look after Jane and I got on my bike and bicycled into the City.

I knew later that I had bicycled over many unexploded bombs. I went straight in and up to South Street. It was AWFUL to behold; not much of the street was left and the smell was terrible. When I got to the White Hart hotel, who should I see but a cousin of mine, Michael Dykes Bower, who was a well know oculist in the City. He lived in Southernhay East and his surgery was opposite. He told me to stay with him as he must see if his house was alright, and his cook. Luckily it was, but his surgery was flattened. He had been in Alphington, just outside Exeter, playing bridge with his friends. His car was there. He told me he would come back and pick me up later that day, and take me to Sidmouth Junction to catch the first train that got through to go to Woking. He said he would ring my uncle, the doctor, in Frimley, Surrey, and explain to him what was happening and that I would ring him when I arrived at Woking. Later that afternoon, to my joy, my mother and aunt arrived to find out how I was. The Castle car was an ambulance and my mother and aunt were helpers. They were pleased to see us alive, although they couldn’t stay as they were on duty, but were very pleased about Michael coming to take us to the station. Of course, he was able to get me to Countess Wear and we could get to Sidmouth Junction that way. I eventually arrived in Woking at 3am!! What a day, and poor Jane having bad attacks of asthma.

After the trauma, how happy I was to be with my aunt and uncle. We were there for quite a few months. I had a seat for Jane on the back of my bicycle and I had other relations living not too far away, so I used to bicycle over to see them. This being near Camberley, was a very military area, so the roads were crowded with tanks. Jane enjoyed these. Then it was arranged that I should join up with a great friend of mine and her baby boy. Her husband was stationed in the Falkland Isles, and she was living with her family near Bath. So Jane and I stayed there while we waited to hear of a house to rent on the outskirts of Tiverton.

We found one eventually in Post Hill, Tiverton. I also got my old nurse, who lived in Hull, to come down to look after my friend’s baby. I hadn’t seen her for years. It was good to be near my family and my friends, but it didn’t work out with Nanny Christine and my friend, so we decided to go our own ways. I then moved back into the dear little gardener’s cottage at the Castle gates. I made it very comfortable. I took out the range and put in a Courtier stove, which kept us beautifully warm. This was in the dining room which had a lino floor. There was an outshed with a little kitchen and a loo and a big boiler to heat up water, and Jane had her baths in a tin bath by the stove. There was a sink for me to wash in, and I could go up the drive to the Castle for baths.

The town of Tiverton now began to fill up with GI’s, who were very polite. I had a weekly bridge four with two nice US sailors (who were part of the forces for the eventual landing in France) and a girl friend of mine. We had a lot of Italian POWs in the fields down below the Castle, and one called Foschi came to work in the garden for us, so that we could grow potatoes, for the war effort, in one of our fields. He was such a nice man and very sweet with Jane. One day he arrived with a wheelbarrow he’d made for her. This survived for my grandchildren. It was very sad when the Italians left and the Germans came in their place. They weren’t allowed out to work. I remember my horror looking out of my bedroom window one day and seeing them all marching in.

The Castle car, which was also an ambulance, but otherwise couldn’t be used by us, had to do 5 miles every week to keep the batteries etc working properly. I was allowed to use it for these 5 miles. I had a great friend with children who lived exactly two and a half miles away up a very steep hill. I had been pushing the pram up there, so it was a great joy to be able to drive over!!

Then there was a time that a dear OLD friend of our family, who lived in a great big house near Bampton, started to collect us young wives to come over to various different houses where they were able to have room for dances, to entertain the American officers. This was all very well organised with cars to collect us from Tiverton and take us home again. I think the Americans enjoyed it, we did also!!!

So, then war continued. Jane and I were quite happy in the gardener’s cottage. When she was 3 years old, it was decided that it would be good for Jane to go to kindergarten and have plenty of other children to play with. I used to deliver her to the special bus in the centre of Tiverton and fetch her there again at 4 pm. She really enjoyed this. Meantime, I was able to do some voluntary work to help local schools. A large hall in Tiverton, with a kitchen, was set up as a dining room for the local schoolchildren. We had a marvellous cook and we fed 300 children in two sittings, after which a really gourmet meal was cooked for us helpers, with just the same food as was used for the children. At the Castle we were very lucky to have plenty of eggs. Lovely creamy milk was delivered to my door every day. One of our erstwhile maids was working in the local fish shop, and she would ring and tell us when fish was being delivered. The fish that there was most of was skate’s wings. Perhaps the soldiers wouldn’t eat these!!!

Believe it or not, a circus came to Tiverton and the first thing I knew about it was hearing an elephant trumpeting just outside our cottage. It was the same circus as I’d been to as a child!! I got hold of all my friends with children and we all went to the circus and back to tea, produced by all of us, in our cottage.

In the summer of 1944, it was wonderful to see the gliders practising for what we didn’t know was for the D-Day landings in Normandy. These eventually took place, and it was very exciting to think that we were pushing the Germans out of France. It was even more exciting when the Germans signed a peace certificate and the war in Europe was over. Jane and I spent the day with friends. Meanwhile, my family has sold the Castle as it was too difficult for them to cope with, with no staff. There were two big fields and a lovely garden running down to the River Exe, where my father caught trout and salmon, and grayling in the winter. The p.m. of VE day, I went up to the roof of the Castle and put found little Victorian night lights, and lit them as soon as it got dark.

I had had no news from my husband for a long time, but I had been in touch with the Telephone people to ask them that if anyone rang Tiverton 25, the Castle number, would they transfer the call to my next-door neighbour, as my husband wouldn’t have known what was happening. This worked, and one afternoon he rang me. He told me he’d landed on a main road, as he’d never seen proper runways, only grass ones. Anyhow he arrived back safely.

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