大象传媒

I lived at Plumstead, we were going to have the wedding at Hornchurch, cos we used to go to the church there. I think it was about 7 o鈥檆lock. We鈥檇 been up all night, down the air-raid shelter all night. The air-raids were on. I think it was about 7 o鈥檆lock the all clear went. We got up, my brother came鈥�.
Was the air raid shelter big?
It was in our back garden.
Oh, that was the Anderson shelter?
That鈥檚 right, at Plumstead.
We had to catch the bus to the ferry, the free ferry over Woolwich, then we had to get the bus to East Ham station and the train from East Ham station to Hornchurch. The whole time we were on the journey we didn鈥檛 have a raid. As soon as we got there we had an air-raid. So there was a big cellar under Woody Bay, and 鈥� an Anderson shelter in the garden. Some of us went down one, and some of us went down the other. Then we came up. The wedding was at half past two, and we got ready. I think there was another air-raid. No, the air-raid鈥e got there about ten, no there must have been just one air-raid then, but there had been air-raids all night. We got dressed, and no flowers came. Just before we left for the church the flowers came. They鈥檇 been held up because of the air-raids, there was so much damage done in Hornchurch.
We went to the church. We had the reception鈥e had the service. Being Brethren you had to have a registrar there, the registrar didn鈥檛 come, until about half way through the service, and then he came. Of course we had to sign the register. We鈥檇 just got back, and the warning went again. So we went down the cellar, half way down the cellar. Three or four of our friends didn鈥檛 come because one鈥檚 mother had been killed in the raids.
We had a photographer, official photographer, and he was the photographer for one of the Romford local papers. When we came out, when the all clear went鈥he Hornchurch aerodrome was right near there. There was a megaphone thing, 鈥榗os there was all black smoke and they鈥檇 got Van Den Bergh鈥檚 the margarine people. That鈥檚 what all the black smoke we could see was. They said 鈥淚t鈥檚 allright it鈥檚 the margarine factory that鈥檚 gone up.鈥�
So we went and had the reception, and then the siren went again, and we went down again. Then we came up again and I got dressed and Ken had ordered a taxi to take us up to Marylebone. We were going to Chalfont St. Peter for our honeymoon. We went in this taxi, and it was awful because there were water mains out and there was water coming up in the air, and there was gas pipes. You couldn鈥檛 go down this road, and you couldn鈥檛 go down that road because there were fires and that. In the end, when we got to Marylebone, we got in the coach and the warning went again and the people in the train were saying 鈥淚t鈥檚 been terrible down at High Wycombe, there have been dog-fights down there.鈥� I thought, 鈥淥h, what are we going into!鈥� So we got to Gerard鈥檚 Cross, that鈥檚 as far as the train goes. Then we got a taxi to Chalfont St. Peter, and it was a friend of Ken鈥檚.
It was his aunt had a greengrocers shop, cos it was only a little village then. He got this lady who she knew, an old lady, had a cottage there. Her husband was in the colony for epileptics. She was on her own so she always used to go to the lady opposite, to her cottage to sleep the night. When we got there she had a meal for us. We had just got into bed, when we heard this鈥he warning had gone, and I said to Ken 鈥渙oh鈥︹��. We hadn鈥檛 got lights we鈥檇 got candles. You know I don鈥檛 like the dark, so I said we鈥檒l light the candle. Of course he had to get up and draw the curtains before he could light the candle. As he went to get back we heard this thing coming and he went to get back into bed again and he put his elbow right in my eye. Course we got up then and went downstairs, so we sat on the couch underneath the stairs. This eye came right up, the wedding was on the Saturday, on Sunday鈥e went to church Sunday morning and the man on the door was Ken鈥檚 old Sunday School teacher, and he knew we were a honeymoon couple, and there I was sitting there with this black eye!
I think there were about eight air-raids all together, you know with the night before. If you went down the old Anderson shelter at night and the all clear went, you didn鈥檛 bother to get up because you knew the warning was going again so you just stayed down there till the morning.

What about your dress and everything?
Well my aunt made my dress, because it was coupon time. All her friends who worked in the dressmakers gave me coupons. she made their dresses as well. We had a cake, oh the cake didn鈥檛 come. It was a three tier cake, I think.. But we didn鈥檛 get any official photos because, unfortunately the photographer was killed as he went back on the first one he did after me. But the paper had got his pictures or something, and that picture was put in the window of the shop where the paper was printed. One of our friends saw it there, and that is the only official photo we got.
Do you know which paper it was?
Oh, some Romford something. Romford Times or something.

So where did everybody鈥id everybody come to the wedding from their homes, or did they stay anywhere or what?
No, my brother got a car down to bring my grandmother, grandfather and aunts. They had a car from Woolwich down there, and then to Hornchurch then took them back afterwards. Of course Joan and Ruth and their mum and dad lived there. His friend鈥檚 mum was killed in the morning.
Of course the ladies decorated the hall in the morning with flowers, they went home when the warning went. When Ken got there he had to clear all the flowers away where they鈥檇 been doing them and left them.
Quite eventful then?
It was a very eventful day, yes.

When we came back the next week it was the Battle of Britain, and we came home on the Saturday, the seventh of September. No sooner had we got home than the warning went, and we went down and it was a very bad raid, and Ken said to me 鈥淣ow perhaps you鈥檒l come down.鈥� He wanted me to stay down at Chalfont St. Peter you see. So I said, 鈥淲ell I want to go and see Gran first.鈥� You couldn鈥檛 get letters through, and we hadn鈥檛 got a telephone or anything. We tried to get through. We got to East Ham, and we got on the 101 bus to North Woolwich. The siren went, so we all had to get off. Well it hadn鈥檛 been going along the main road because that had been bombed earlier in the day. Of course the docks were all alight. We had to go round the back streets. We didn鈥檛 know where we were. And we came along, and the shops were all in front of us, at a sort of 鈥淭鈥� junction. You could see the fire in the shops, it was all reflected in the windows. We said to a warden 鈥淲here are we? Can you tell us where there鈥檚 a shelter?鈥� Because they were private houses in the road we were going along. He just said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know nothing.鈥� You know he was proper dazed. Anyway we walked a little further and there was this sign outside the house. If you had a shelter and not many people in it you put a notice up. If people were walking by they could come in, and you had to leave your front door open, see? So I went to the front door and said 鈥淐an we come in?鈥�
She said 鈥淐ome in, come in. I鈥檓 just making some sandwiches for my lodger. He won鈥檛 come downstairs; he will stay in bed in these raids. If you go through to the garden, the children are in there.鈥�
So we went down, and there were three little wee children. I think the eldest must have been about six. They were all tucked up, in their cots, you know? She came down, and she said,
鈥淢y lodger won鈥檛 come down, and my husband鈥檚 working in the docks. I鈥檓 ever so worried.鈥�
Well you could hear the bombs dropping and the guns going you know. They鈥檝e got a funny noise the guns, sort of 鈥淲hoomph! Whoomph!鈥� sort of thing. Anyway, about five O鈥檆lock her husband came home, from the docks and of course she was pleased to see him. And about five O鈥檆lock the all clear went. We went to get out, and he said, 鈥淣o, don鈥檛 go out yet. They know to come back and machine-gun people coming out of the shelters you see.鈥�
So we waited for about an hour, and went to go. Then he said 鈥淥h no, you鈥檙e not going now, you鈥檙e going to have a cup of tea鈥�
Of course, tea and sugar were all rationed. But he would make us have a cup of tea. So I鈥檇 got a box of chocolates for Gran and some flowers you see, so I left the chocolates for the children and the flowers to her. But they wouldn鈥檛 take any money.
Then when we got to the end of the road there was a church hall, being used as a mortuary. They were full up and there were bodies lying outside, you know. I think it was near Catherine Road, because I think we got the bus from Catherine Road. She told us where we could get the bus, and when the bus did come along, it had been in London all night. Quite a few people were waiting there, and the driver said, 鈥淗ornchurch people only, Hornchurch people only!鈥� He said, 鈥淚鈥檓 not stopping till I get to Hornchurch now.鈥�
We got on the bus and dad went to pay and he said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 want no money!鈥� So dad got a free ride, oh he was pleased, you know how he liked to get something for free. Then when we got home, Ken said, 鈥淣ow perhaps you鈥檒l go back?鈥� So I said allright.
So we went to go back and his mum and dad came with the dog, and us. We had a big old spaniel. Joan, dad, mum spaniel, Ken and I. And his mum had used all the rations, put them together and made a steak and kidney pie. It was for Sunday, so we had this steak and kidney pie. When we all went down to Chalfont St. Peter we stood on poor old Mrs Colwell鈥檚 doorstep. She was an old lady, and she didn鈥檛 know what she was going to do, but anyway we went in, and she鈥檇 got one of those old ranges. So we put our steak and kidney pie in the oven. We got somewhere for his mum and dad to stay, and we stayed where we were. Anyway, on the Monday, Ken's mum and dad came back, and Joan had to come back because she worked at Black Nottley Sanitorium, and she was on duty. Monday morning, when Ken went back to work, early in the morning, the firm had been bombed, so he was out of a job. I had to keep him for three months!
Then we found two rooms.
So were you working then?
I had to go to work then didn鈥檛 I? Anyway, if you were married you had to go to work, you weren鈥檛 called up, but you had to work. If you were not married, then you could be called up for ATS, Land Army or factory work. If you were married, you got your own job near home. I got a job at the 鈥淩enown Assurance Company鈥�. It was just along the hill, typist you see. So that was quite good really, I got me money and I got a job and kept him. Three months, that was the 7th September, no, the 9th September, on the Monday. He went in the army on the 5th December. He couldn鈥檛 get another job because he was waiting for his call up papers.
Of course, the wedding presents he got from the firm, he hadn鈥檛 brought home, they were all gone you see.
Did you enjoy your day?
Oh, I think so. It was a frightening day, you know.
Was it exciting or frightening?
Frightening. You never knew what was going to happen next, you know. The bombs dropped. You could hear them dropping, because they whistled. That鈥檚 what makes me so cross with people who love to see these war films on television. They want to live though it, then they wouldn鈥檛 like it so much. You just stand there, and anything can happen to you. You were relieved really, when you heard the bang. You felt a bit guilty; you wondered where it was. Specially if you were near home and your friends were all around you. You鈥檇 think, 鈥淚 wonder where that one is, I wonder who鈥檚 got it?鈥�
Did you lose many of your friends?
Before I was married, when I used to work at Greenwich, I used to work for British Oxygen Company, at Tunnel Avenue. Two or three of them were killed, you know. Just didn鈥檛 come in next morning, then you鈥檇 hear. One girl was killed in a shelter; they had a direct hit above. Quite a few were injuries, you know.
Somebody would phone the bosses up and you would get to know.
Winnie, my brother鈥檚 wife. A landmine fell on their house and they were dug out. They were injured a bit, but not badly. Yes it was rather a frightening time, you know. You sort of got used to it, a bit blas茅, but it was still frightening.
How long were you actually in the thick of it?
Well I went down to Chalfont, it wasn鈥檛 so bad down there. The bombing didn鈥檛 go on for the whole war. There was a big lull, and then, when June was born, I was in a nursing home. Then the warning went, and then we heard this noise, 鈥淐hug,chug.鈥� Just like a motorbike, and all of a sudden it stopped. So we said, 鈥淥oh, they鈥檝e shot that one down鈥� and then there was a bang. They were the first buzz bombs. We didn鈥檛 know anything about them before then. It was the first we ever knew of them in this nursing home, in Devonshire Road, four doors down from Woody Bay.
The other lady鈥檚 husband was on leave, and he came in, and was laying listening. If they went over you were allright, but if they stopped you ducked, you didn鈥檛 know if you were going to kop it. I never had any experience of the V2鈥檚. They fell on London.
But of course Dover got it worst cos they used to shell Dover from France.
My father鈥檚 landlady (he was working on a barracks down there) her son was a tramdriver, and he was killed.
Yes, it was rather frightening.
We鈥檇 taken the wedding dress and everything over the week before. The day before we helped make the jellies and that, cos we did all the reception. So I went home the night before then Chas took me over.
We never got to see my Gran. After we鈥檇 all turned up at Mrs Colwells on the Sunday, on the Wednesday, my brother turned up. He had my Gran and grandad and my aunts cos they just couldn鈥檛 stand it any more. Gran hadn鈥檛 changed her clothes for three weeks; she鈥檇 been down the shelter. They were afraid to get washed, because they had to get undressed. But we got them rooms, then the house was bombed, or at least, Ancona Road was bombed. So they never went back to Ancona Road. It was only rented, and they didn鈥檛 go back even after the war. After they left it, my brother and his girlfriend lived there. Gran was terribly upset, it wasn鈥檛 done in those days. Eventually they got married, but they didn鈥檛 want us to come up for the wedding, I suppose because of the bombs.
Anyway, Gran lived with Ada. Then when the lady down the road moved back to Lee on Sea, they said to gran 鈥淲ould you like to rent the house?鈥� They didn鈥檛 charge her much at all. Then they sold it to Auntie Grace for a very small amount.
Gran had nothing when she left Ancona road, just the clothes she stood up in. And they鈥檇 been married 60 years. They brought one or two bits and pieces like Charlie and Gracie.

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