大象传媒

Schoolgirl in W.W.2
Joan East [ nee Lane.]
Edgbaston Birmingham

I was eight years old when WW2 started , living in Richmond Hill Langley; next to my best friend Margaret Rutter; who was three years older than I was. We both went to St. Paul鈥漵 School in Edgbaston. At the outbreak of war arrangements were made for children to be evacuated together with staff to Hereford where we were to be with families who offered to look after us. Margaret and I were taken to a family with one daughter for the first week ; but for some reason the teacher in charge of us felt the arrangements there were not suitable ; and we were moved to two other families.Margaret with a couple with no children ; and I with a family of two children a girl a little older than me ; Diana and a younger brother and a live in maid.
School for us was on Tuesdays; Thursdays; and Fridays. The days when we were not at schoolwe had all went hop picking with the teachers.I had times when I was homesick and would have been very miserable without Margaret.
Diana and I soon became good friends but as our school days were not the same Sunday was the only day we were both together. There were fields and woods quite near and we had great times collecting conkers and climbing trees. Some Sundays we went to the morning service at the cathedral in Hereford where Diana::s brother was in the choir.
After about three months our parents decided that as there had been no air raids we might as well be at home, so by Xmas we were home.
After Xmas the air raids did start our next door neighbours had an :Anderson shelter. My dad was planning to build a reinforced brick shelter at the bottom of our garden ,but until then we s
Shared our neighbours.The air raids were quite frequent now and got used to hearing the sirens at night then dashing down to the shelters. It was a rather a squash in next doors shelter so we were glad my dad finished ours. He put up two tier bunks for us.Derrick my brother and I could sleep on the top one with our parents beneath. Magaret used to come with her parents and the three of us shared the top bunk while the adults sat on the bottom. The air raids were quite often now and we quite used to running down the garden with teapot and biscuits.
Margaret and I went back to St Pauls in Edgbaston where the cloakrooms had been re-enforced ,if there was an air raid we went there until the all clear was given. We also had gas masks thankfully we never had to use them..
1945 the war ended and there were numerous street parties with great rejoicing
The blackout curtains were taken down and things got back to normal..The air raid shelter became a storage place for dads tools and plant pots.Bananas were in the shops again and we could buy butter and other foods which used to be on ration.. Now my dad could use the car again for work each day .Life was good again with holidays..J.E.

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