大象传媒

I was 6yrs old when war broke out, my father Joseph Knowles worked in the Brick Works and was in the Home Guard. My mother Lydia was in the WRVS. I remember that they used to go out once a month with a wheel barrow collecting old rags,bones,tins etc. My mother was also in the Red Cross. Two or three years later we started taking in evacuees,they were a family of 4 a mother 2 children and a father who used to visit on a weekend. During this time I had to give up my bedroom and share with my sister I was not happy. We used to sit on the doorstep of our house and watch Sheffield burn as it got bombed. Living 20 miles from Derby which was then the heart of the Rolls Royce Engine Manufacturing industry we awoke one morning to see 2 Barrage Balloons floating passed, apparently they had broken away from their moorings. I can also remember my mother holding raffles for the Merchant Navy who used to frequent the Bowling Green Inn. Once a month we used to hold dances at the Burton Institute. The Italian prisoners of war were stationed at the Hall in Winster. I remember in Darley Dale there was a billet which took up the whole park. Infact they filled in the lake to make more room for the huts. I can also just remember the search lights scouring the skies for enemy aircraft.

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