I was born in 1940 and during the course of the war lived at 2 North Circular Road, London, N13,
which was next to the Cambridge Hotel.
Some of my earliest memories were of our nightly trips down to the cellars of the hotel where Mum and I had been allocated bunks. I still have the Shelter Ticket showing the numbers of our bunks and the rules applying to the shelter.
Sometimes at night we would look up and count the aircraft leaving nearby Cambridgeshire, perhaps from RAF Bassingbourne, on missions to bomb Germany. Then in the morning as they flew in low with lights on we would count them again.
During the day the hotel carpark would become our playground where it was safe to ride our bikes.
Naturally enough our VE Celebration Party was held outside the shelter.