大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War website by Julia Shuvalova for GMR Actiondesk on behalf of Joyce Hilton and has been added with her permission. The author is fully aware of the terms and conditions of the site.

CHAPTER 1 - The Gathering Clouds of War

I was ten years old in 1939, frightened and yet excited by the thought of impending war. In 1995, as we were about to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of V.E. Day, my mind began to dwell on my memories of those bewildering childhood days in wartime Salford and Southport.

Life in pre-war Salford was peaceful and simple. It was called the Classic Slum, but I remember homely little streets where we played our home-spun games in safety, where the police, teachers and the old had respect from us children. The small terraced houses were in the main beautifully kept by house-proud women, despite the most basic of cleaning aids. Very few women went to work in those pre war days and hence had the time to take pride in their simple homes.

There were also many beautiful parks in Salford such as Buille Hill Park, with its wonderful museum, tennis courts, bowling green and acres of lush gardens; it was truly an oasis in the urban sprawl. There was also Peel Park with its art gallery and the elegant Georgian houses which form the Crescent, close to where Salford University now stands. Salford had its own racecourse and orchestra and each year held the wonderful Whit walks and a Regatta on the River Irwell at Agecroft. Over the years Salford has also had many famous sons and daughters who have contributed greatly to the arts and entertainment*.

There were no supermarkets, the nearest thing being the big Co-Op shops. We did, however, have the luxury of small shops on every street corner where almost anything (it seemed) could be bought. Toys were mainly home made however. Dad made some stilts and a 'bogey' for me. A bogey was a wooden box set on 4 wheels and steered from a string tied to the front wheels. Pram wheels were much prized and children would wait for their neighbours to discard an old pram. I did not have a bike until we moved to Southport when I was eleven and I got a "sit up and beg" with a basket on the front, it was my pride and joy.

While not many could afford the luxury of holidays, the lucky ones had a week at the seaside in the summer. Our destination was usually Blackpool, travelling by bus and train as few people owned cars. I can remember clearly the thrill of seeing Blackpool Tower from the train and, amazingly for a Salford girl, fields of cows. Fortunately for us, in the summer of 1939, we took a holiday in North Wales - we didn't have another holiday as a family for 6 years. Some families only ever had a day out, saving all year to go by Fieldsend's coaches to the seaside.

As the fear of war grew, the A.R.P. and Home Guard was formed. My Dad, who was in his early thirties, joined the A.R.P. and was soon learning how to fit gas masks and deal with incendiary bombs down at the St Lukes church hall in Weaste. Toddlers, like my own little sister Norma who was 2 years old in 1939, had to be coaxed to try on the special Mickey Mouse gas masks which were hot and claustrophobic. Within 3 days 700,000 gas masks had been issued. Soon we were all carrying them in their little boxes - you couldn't get into a cinema without one.

Thankfully, we were never required to use them, although gas attacks had been greatly feared in the early days of war. Soon we became blase and often carried the box, but with no gas mask in it!

Life continued. Mum made blackout curtains and our windows were taped in a criss-cross pattern to save them shattering from a bomb blast. Air raid shelters were hastily erected. If you had a garden you had an Anderson Shelter, made of corrugated iron. These were partially sunk into the ground and covered with soil and plants. Some grew their vegetables on top! They had bunks inside and an oil stove. The rest, like ours, were either brick built in the back yard, or as my Grandparents had, a communal shelter built in the long 'back entries'.

My Uncle Stan, who had recently left school and wasn't happy as a grocers boy, got a job with the man building our shelter (after a word from my mother!). Stan moved in with us. I spent hours watching them lay the bricks. In retrospect, it was probably as dangerous being in the shelter as staying in the house! There was a thick concrete ceiling and an escape hatch at the side, loosely filled with bricks. We had a smelly oil stove and an old carpet on the floor and two velvet bed chairs and a few other home comforts. Norma slept blissfully throughout the air raids. Some nights we stayed in the house and slept under a heavy table.

We carried on as before, visiting family; Granny and Grandad and Dad's relatives at Blackley, where, on a Sunday, as many as twelve of us strolled in Bogart Hole Clough, and watched the peacocks. Going to the cinema down Cross Lane to see such favourites as Charlie Chan the Chinese detective and my all-time heroine, Deanna Durbin, in her wonderful singing roles. Still my favourite to this day. The popular cinemas were the Langworthy Picture House, the Carlton, the Palace and the Ambassador where, during the era of the Silent Movie, Violet Carson (later to play Ena Sharples in Coronation Street) played the piano during the interval and to set the mood during the film. I remember Cross Lane as a bustling and vibrant place in those pre-war days, with every kind of shop imaginable, including a 'pawn' shop next to the old barracks, numerous pubs and a huge open market, which I found fascinating, where you could buy anything from a toffee apple to a roll of lino.

As a girl my Mum was sent down to the pawn shop every Monday with the families 'best clothes', which she would go back for on a Friday so that they had them for the weekend! She said that she used to put the best on top of a load of scruffy ones to fool the man in the pawn shop. The few pence she got pawning the clothes every week was a god send, often meaning the difference between eating and not at all. And so it was during the war. The only item Mum had of any worth was her engagement ring which she regularly 'hocked' when times were particularly hard. Each time it had to be redeemed by a certain date or it became the pawnbrokers property.

None of my friends were evacuated and we continued going to school and having air raid drill, marching down in an orderly fashion into the school basement and sitting on benches until the all-clear. Dad meanwhile joined the Auxiliary Air Force with his friend and my little sister's Godfather, Uncle Arthur. He continued his duties with the A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions) however, as they were very short of people. Their contribution on the 'home front' was incalculable. Many, like my husband, saw more action than some soldiers and were often mere boys. Messengers were recruited from amongst teenagers and my friend's sister joined. Sadly I wasn't old enough, although I really wanted to help.

By September 1st 1939 the evacuation had begun. Hitler had invaded Poland and war was imminent. Thousands of leaflets were pushed through doors advising householders what to do and schools were sent special messages to advise that the evacuation would start the next day. In all 72,000 children and 23,000 adults were evacuated from the Manchester area in around 3 days. My little kit bag was packed, but Norma caught impetigo from another toddler and passed it on to me. Hers cleared up quickly with sulphur ointment, but mine rapidly spread over my face. It was highly contagious and evacuation was now out of the question.

As no antibiotics were then available, Mum took me to Hope Hospital near Eccles on the doctor's advice. As we travelled on the bus she gave me a shilling in case I needed to buy anything while I was in, but they wouldn't admit me because they were keeping the beds for soldiers, presumably in expectation of early casualties. After another visit to Manchester Skin Hospital there followed weeks of painful treatment, face masks of lint soaked in a liquid which burned into my face. Mum dreaded having to apply it, inflicting it on me. Eventually it cleared it up and I was left with beautiful new skin.

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