大象传媒

Early childhood memories in Enfield

I was born in May 1936, but obviously have no memories of the Abdication which happened later that year.
One of my earliest memories is of being seated on my "potty" calling to my Mum!! It was a Sunday morning and she and Dad and my two brothers were standing in the kitchen listening to the radio. It was about eleven o'clock and they were very attentive to the announcement that was being made. All I knew at the time was that I wanted Mum to come and sort me out!
Later I knew that it was the declaration of war that had held their attention.
It had no interest for me, but later on when Dad and Uncle Phil started to dig a big whole in the garden, I became much more interested. A lorry delivered lots of corrugated iron sheets to the front of the house and these were assembled into an air-raid shelter, which became a wonderful playhouse for me and my friends when it was completed.
More later.

I remember the war years quite well as I started school in 1941 and many of those early years were quite memorable for many reasons.
I am now retired, of course, and would like to record some of those memories for my children and others to read.

The day my school was bombed.(Chesterfield Road, Enfield)
One day during the "doodlebug" season, I woke and strangley did not want to go to school. I claimed a headache and although Mum knew I was pretending she played along and let me stay in bed and read comics.
At lunchtime my elder brother Trev, who went to Enfield Grammar School, came home for his lunch and we were sitting in the kitchen when the siren went. Grabbing our lunch we went out to the shelter and finished eating with the door open to let in some light.
After a while we heard the sound of an approaching "doodlebug", which is what we called the V1 flying bombs. We peeked out of the door and saw it flying low above us. The noise was horrendous and then suddenly it stopped and the flying bomb carried on down Beaconsfield Road and then dropped out of sight behind the rooftops. A loud bang followed and a pall of smoke arose at the ned of the road. The all-clear sounded shortly afterwards and my brother headed off to school. As was usual in those days, we went into the street and met other people coming out of their houses all anxious to find out what had happened. Somebody came hurrying up from the location of the smoke cloud and told us that Chesterfield Road infant school had had a direct hit on the school hall. Luckily all the children(except me) were safely in the shelters along the edge of the playground. One teacher, Miss Parnell, was killed because she stayed to look for children in the playground.
Unfortunately, the fire sub-station next to the school was also blown up and we were told that four firemen died.
I didn't go to school for six months after that. My parents allowed our front room to be used as a classroom for some of the older children, until the school was habitable again.

Enfield during the war

It was lunchtime when the doodlebug hit the school. My memory tells me that no children were killed. Miss Parnell, a teacher, when hit by the blst as she stood at the shelter entrance checking for late children. She was blown down the steps in front of the children. A firecrew in the substation next to the school were also killed.
There was much discussion about evacuation after this incident, but mother insisted that we should stay together as a family and we did just that.
Our house was hit twice by incendiary bombs but survived with minor damage. My bedroom was wrecked by one of them.

Anderson shelter in the back garden in Beaconsfield Road, Enfield

To build that Anderson shelter Dad and Uncle Phil (my mother's brother-in-law) dug a very large hole in the lawn and lined it with concrete. After the base was laid the corrugated iron sides were propped up and concrete poured down the outside between the sheets and the earth. These side curved over and were joined with a flat section to create the roof. Then the ends were added and more concrete was poured. It made an unholy mess of the garden while it was being done. Afterwards my brothers and I played in it for many happy hours until the water started to seep in at the bottom! Dad had forgotten to put in a damproof membrane! From then on wooden duckboards raised the floor about 3 inches to make it habitable. It was very damp to sleep in and we used it as little as possible. One night Mum woke up and screamed because a frog was sitting on her chest!!

VE DAY
When the news was announced the neighbours began planning a street party. Everyone joined in and on the day the centre of the street was filled with tables and chairs covered with sheets. Every family brought food to share and the tables groaned under the weight of sasage rolls, cakes , sandwiches(spam of course) and anything else that could be found.
A fancy dress parade for the kids was organised and I dressed as an Arab, proudly wearing a real headress brought back from Alamein by my 'uncle Bill'. My brothers painted me with Bournville Cocao so that I looked the part. My girlfriend Margaret stole first prize however, as Mae West, although we were both only 9 years old. I had to be content with second prize.
The party went on till the small hours with many people providing entertainment on the makeshift stage erected on the back of a lorry. The area used for the party was the site of three bombed houses that had been cleared by the menfolk to provide a large space to dance and generally mill around and talk to all our neighbours. It was a wonderful time of comradeship, having safely come through the nightmare of the war.