大象传媒

Typed by a UCN Community Volunteer.

When the War started September 1939 I was expecting my first baby who was born exactly one year after I was married on December 13th 1939. When the baby was three months old my husband was called up to join the Forces and I did not see him until August 1940. At that time I was visiting relatives in Yorkshire. They wanted to see the baby and I visited them inn July for two weeks but the visit was extended until March 1941. In the August of 1941 my husband had 7 days leave, so he came up to Yorkshire. The first night he was home we just got to bed and there was an air-raid and my husband said 鈥淥h 鈥� they are following me here already鈥�. We were staying just outside Bradford at the time and it was an extremely bad raid. A lot of people were killed but we were safe. My husband Tom went back off leave and the next time I saw him was at Christmas that year and again, whilst he was with us we had another air raid at Bradford!

The following March my husband was home on leave again but this time he wanted me to go back to Northampton because he had not seen his mother or my mother all that time. So he travelled from Thetford and I travelled from Bradford and we eventually met up in Northampton. My son Peter was then 15 months old and at that time he had a bad cold so I took him to the doctor and asked was it okay to take him on the journey to Northampton but during the train journey he began to whoop. It was very traumatic. We had a great big gas mask and the pram and the baby and to change trains three times but eventually we got home and my husband came home and we stayed with my mother that time. Peter had whooping cough but my husband used to take him out in the pram down near the gas works where there was a lot of tar going on. It was thought at the time that the smell of tar helped children with this ailment. My husband went back to his unit and the next time we saw him was in September of that year when he came home on embarkation leave.

After my husband had gone back I had three evacuee children from London come to live with me. The eldest was Joan who was 12 years old, her brother Jimmy who was 10 and their little sister Rita who was 4 and a half. During the time they were with me their mother came to visit twice and Rita when her mother came asked, 鈥淥h 鈥� is that my mummy?鈥� but the father who was already in the forces took more interest in the children than the mother. Every time he was on leave he would visit his children. My husband was sent abroad and I did not know where he was but then heard that he鈥檇 gone to Singapore in February 1942 just as Singapore fell and he was taken prisoner but for two years I did not have any news whatsoever 鈥� where he was 鈥� if he was alive or if he was dead. Then one morning I had a card that had been printed and it said 鈥淚 am a prisoner at No. 2 Camp Thailand鈥�. Also it said, 鈥淧lease see you are taken care of鈥� and in his own writing he put 鈥渁nd Peter鈥� and signed his name 鈥楾om鈥�. I waited another 18 months before I had news to say that he died while a prisoner 鈥� actually by the time I got the postcard my husband was dead but I did not know until another 18 months. One thing I would have really liked would have been that they would sent my husband鈥檚 wedding ring and watch back for our son but of course the Japanese did not send anything back at all. I had some of my husbands鈥� medals but unfortunately I was burgled and they took them. So Peter never knew his Dad. It is only by photographs and talking about him. Actually today 鈥� 10th August is the day my husband died 61 years ago.
I remember during the war, joining the long queue for apples and lots of other things that were very scarce and sometimes you would just get to the store and you would find that they had sold out. I found that they people were I lived at that time were very friendly and everybody helped one another and if one person had got anything to spare they used to let the other person have it. We were like one big happy family really 鈥� sharing everything. I remember when the war was over and we all celebrated I think most streets had a street party and we had streamers and flags and we all combined what we had to eat and had a big celebratory do in the street because the war was finished although quite a lot of us were sad because we had lost a loved one during the war but were pleased for those who were not hurt or disabled.

Of course we had to have black out at every window. Not a chink of light to be seen at all. We were rationed with sugar and butter and we had dried eggs but surprisingly we managed and I don鈥檛 think it did us any harm. We learnt to appreciate what we had. Joan was quite rebellious, Jimmy was quite a quiet boy and very helpful around the house with little jobs. Joan was missing her parents and friends and was just at the age were she did not want to be told what to do. Rita was lovely, a little dumpling. She did not seem to miss her mother because apparently she had been at nursery since she was 2 and had not seen much of her. After the war the children wanted to stay with me rather than go back to London. Joan in a way wanted to go home but did not and said when she got home her mother would make her work in the home and take charge of the other children.

I used to do a little bit of indoor work. I used to make parts of banners during the war. I also remember one evening I had a lady and two children call and said that a lady I knew had sent them to me to see if I could put them up for the weekend. They came from out of town where there was quite a lot of bombing. I did not have much room but they could stay anyhow. On the Sunday morning the lady said that she and her children were going to visit friends at West Haddon. They said they鈥檇 be back in the evening 鈥� so I proposed that we had a meal in the evening instead of lunchtime that day so I got the meal ready but the lady and her two children never did come back and I don鈥檛 know what happened to them at all.

Des O鈥機onnor lived just a few doors away from me. He and his mother and father and sister all came from London to stay in our street during the war. Peter was born at the Barrett and one of the nurses called Nurse Lockertop because she was always saying keep your Lockertops Tidy. I got on very well with her because I was always knitting and she asked me to do some knitting for her so I was knitting scarves and socks for her. I used to do quite a lot of knitting for the Army and Air Force, socks and scarves and such. When I went to the Barrett 鈥� in those days you paid according to your income. I had to pay weekly before I went into the Barrett. I was happy in the Barrett. I came home on Christmas morning but in the afternoon Christmas Eve all the husbands were invited to a party and the morning I came home every person in the Barrett Maternity Home had a present from the Christmas Tree and also the babies had a present. My present was a glass dish and Peter had bootees and a little matinee coat. We were a very close knit neighbourhood. A lady four doors away had a little girl who was just a few months older than Peter and we were quite friendly with her and Peter and her little girl Valerie remained friends for years, went to school together and were great chums.

The war years went by quite quickly. I was involved in the church and there was always a lot going on and I had the support of my family. The first time my husband came home I had saved and bought a 3 piece suite and he was so surprised and told me how well I had done. A plane crashed at the top of Gold Street in the early hours of the morning. A German airman bailed out in Abington Park and he was taken prisoner. My husband was stationed at Catterick, then he was posted to Norfolk and he arranged that Peter and I should stay there for a week and he was moved the very day I was going to stay, so I never did get to stay with him that week. When my husband was at Catterick his brother was an RSM in the Signals in Catterick at the same time.

My husband was friendly with a young man who went at the same time as my husband and was captured at the same time but did come home but he died very soon after coming home because of his ill treatment.

During the war the church I belonged to had two young evacuee girls along with their mother but every weekend their Father would visit. There father owned a sweet shop and every Sunday at the church the Father had a pocketful of sweets for the children.

When I had news that my husband had died the church was so good they paid for myself and my son to go on holiday and gave us spending money. The lady and gentleman we stayed with were Mr and Mrs Bailey who lived just outside Blackpool and they were so kind to us and when we were going home she gave me an envelope and said Don鈥檛 open this until you get home. When I got home there was a 拢10 note in the envelope.

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