大象传媒

I remember going with Dad to Weston when he had to report on being called up by the army. He was told to report to Watchet.to join the Somerset Light infantry.
I remember going with mum and dad down Axbridge moor to look at bomb crater it was great big deep hole with lots of people looking at it
The only building to be bombed in Compton Bishop was the school, the elderly mother of the schoolmistress was living in the house but she was not hurt but I believe the dog died.
A day or two after the bombing Went to look at the school with Aunty Cis , we looked around the damaged buildings
One of the things I best remember is the barrage balloons,
Sometimes could see the red glow of Bristol burning over the top of Wavering Down
A lot of bombs dropped around Compton Bishop cos,we always reckoned they were trying to get Weare dump an army place in Weare at the top of Notting hill . We didn鈥檛 know what they did there. But when you went for walks you often saw signs for unexploded bombs and lots of incendiary bombs in the fields. And on the river.
It was only when we went to Weston-super-Mare that we could actually see bomb damage.
Occasionally when dad was abroad we woke up and found he had come home having walked the 8 miles or so from Weston railway station. He used his rifle and bayonet to tap on mum鈥檚 bedroom window so that she could let him in.
People often said to mum where is Harry now? If it was a man she always said in France where you ought to be. Another memory that comes to mind is dad chopping firewood in the kitchen with his bayonet.
Looking back on wartime, everyone seemed quite certain that we would win.
I remember the evacuees and how many of them didn鈥檛 like the country and longed to go home but remember some pretty evacuee girls that Used to kiss in the playground. But several evacuee families stayed and never went home.
Remember the food rationing and we used to keep a pig, which we drove down theA38 to the slaughterhouse at Weare.
Obviously during food rationing lots of food was scarce even in the country where there was always food available even if it wasn鈥檛 what you wanted, there was always apples and rabbits and wild mushrooms
I remember when the Italian prisoners were put to work on farms especially one called Peladi Pulvani, who kept pigs and later had an ice cream van, he came around selling ice creams. He often called and bought the strawberries we grew in the garden. After the war he stayed in England, he was very popular. I remember people saying the only good German is a dead one.
I can remember Jake Loxton coming home having lost both legs at Dunkirk. He obviously did some training as a cobbler and had a shed built in his garden. He set up a business mending shoes. He used to drive around in a 3 wheel invalid carriage.
I suppose the things I remember most about the war were the explosions of the bombs and the searchlights.
I can remember my youngest brother getting frightened by the aeroplanes, but he was very young. There used to be songs making fun of Hitler and his gang.
After Compton school was bombed, we went to school at the old vicarage. And later at a garage at Glastonbury Thorn, later we used an old schoolroom in Cross which is now the village hall.

Of course there was no TV in Wartime,we listened to the wireless in the house ,there was some super programmes such as ITMA. And the Charlie Chester show , we used to enjoy plays the Home service and the Forces programme. I remember especially Paul Temple and Steve.
One food I only knew existed or even heard of in wartime was dried egg
The part of the village where we lived had no mains electricity or gas, or water.
So our wireless sets ran on a 2-volt accumulator or wet battery and H.T. Battery and 9 volt grid bias one needed two accumulators, as one would be at the garage on charge. Oil lamps provided our lights my parents had a double
Burner but our neighbours had an Aladdin lamp, which was much better
Our lavatory was an earth closet up the garden path, which we shared with the neighbours Dad emptied it and spread the contents on the vegetable garden. Toilet paper in wartime was old newspapers torn into squares and put into a hole built in the wall.
In the war a Mr.Wilson from Axbridge came round buying wild blackberries to make Bramble jelly.
Every night during the war we had a blackout householders had to make sure that no light from inside the house could be seen outside .
I f any light could be seen outside one soon had a visit from the air raid warden.
I remember the singing of Vera Lynn and of Ann Ziegler and Webster Booth.
I remember worker鈥檚 playtime and music while you work.

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