大象传媒

I was evacuated to Dunoon from Glasgow when I was 13 years old. My mother stayed in Glasgow to look after my father who was an invalid. She worked in the naafi baker during the day and in the evening she was an air raid warden. My mother owwned a holiday house in Dunoon which was taken over by the War Office. It wasn't a grand house. It was called a single end, with two beds set into the wall of the living room. It was lit with paraffin lamps and did not have any facilities. She was paid the princely sum of 拢25 for the house. it was never returned to her after the war, it became the propoerty of the Government. She had no say in the matter
The hospital in Dunoon was taken over the the War Department for the army. All the soldiers were from the Scottish Regiments and wore kilts They were not allowed to go out into the town on on marches wearing their kilts. It wasn't thought decent! They were given Siren Suits (made famous by Churchill). The men hated them and said they felt like bloomers.
I never went to school during the 12 months that I was evacuated in Dunoon. I left school at 14 and my first job was in a shoe shop. From their I went to work for the Co-op as a machinist. I used to make children's communion clothes and children's nightwear. For a bundle of 12 I was paid 2/6d (12.5 pence). When work was slack
we were put onto making shrouds, embroidered with a red harp. We never knew who the shrouds were for.

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