大象传媒

I started at a new school in September 1939 when I was 12. I was very excited because I was going to join my sister in a convent boarding shcool. Just before we were due to go, my parents got a letter to say that the start of the term was delayed as part of the building had to be re-inforced to provide shelter during air-raids. I was very disappointed at the delay, but eventually we went about two weeks later. It was a lovely autumn and we only had lessons for half days because the construction work was not completed. I remember sitting in what we called 'the meadow' just chatting with other girls.

We did have air-raids in the early years and in spite of the fact that we were deafened by the siren which was very near to us, Mother Mary Joseph, the nun in charge of the dormitory wakened us by ringing a little brass bell! Straight away she started on the prayers and her prayers were interspersed with instructions, "Hail Mary full of grace, don't forget to put your stockings on, the Lord is with thee..." We had to put our lisle stocking over our pyjama legs, and our long brown knickers (the ones with a pocket in and with elastic down to the knees). Then we had to put on a cardigan, a dressing gown and our slippers. We each took an eiderdown and set off on the long trek to the shelters.

The shelters were in the cloakrooms. There were very narrow benches with spaces for shoes underneath and we had to lie on these. I was a well-built girl and had a job to stop myself from rolling onto the floor. The headmistress, Mother Mary Monica, sat on a seaside deckchair with a foot extension and as soon as we got there (of course we were not allowed to speak to one another) she set off on what sometimes turned out to be fifteen decades of the rosary(depending on the length of the raid). We were in Preston but all the time during the raids, I worried about my parents and brothers and sisters because they were near Liverpool.

I left that school in 1945 and went to college. I was always sorry that I was too young to join the forces or to do any useful war work. In fact, the older I got the more useless I felt. We were sheltered from the war during the term, and it was only when we got home for the holidays that we experienced real wartime home life.