Hi, my name is Chris Duff and I was only two-and-a-half years old when the war started. I lived on a small farm, Gorsty Hill Hall, on the border of Cheshire and Staffordshire and four miles from Crewe. The farmer, George Hurley, was one of the local air raid wardens for the local community of a dozen houses, two farms and a pub.
My remembrances of the war are mainly the sounds of air raid sirens as the German bombers targetted the extensive railway marshalling yards just south of Crewe. We had two cellars in the house and one was set up with bunk beds and food. At the sound of the sirens we were all told to go down the stone steps and congregate in the inner cellar under the centre of the house.
We heard the bombs dropping. Many missed the target and fell in the fields near the house. These bomb craters filled with water over time and became ideal play areas for me and my pals a year or so later. I remember the distinctive drone of the German bombers and the relief all round when the all-clear sounded.
Chris Duff
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