大象传媒

"This story was submitted by Philip Schofield, on behalf of KCC education and Libraries, and has been added to the site with the author's permission"

My family moved down from London to Tonbridge in 1939, when I was 11 years old. I went to the local convent school in Cannon Lane. One incident that I remember particularly well was one day, when we were going home from school, we used a window as a mirror to put our hats on, and we saw a dogfight overhead. The nuns made us come back into the school and then when we went out, and I saw shell cases on the ground where we had been only a few minutes before.

I also remember a specific Sunday when the sky was filled with planes fighting overhead. A parachutist was coming down and was machine-gunned while he was falling through the sky.

When troops were coming back from Dunkirk, the trains stopped at Tonbridge station. Boys from Judd School, including my late husband, gave them cups of tea. Also, a printing works in South Tonbridge printed up postcards for the troops to address to let their families know they were safe. My brother and I went into Waterloo Road, lent our bikes against the railway fence and stood on them, and the soldiers gave us cards to post.

My other memories of Tonbridge were of shop windows in the High St covered with heavy wires, across from corners to a centre block.At times, there were barricades in the High Street, and Army check posts in Hadlow Rd at Higham lane, where ID cards were checked.

As children, we just accepted these things happenng as part of life.

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