大象传媒

I was born, and lived in the Town Hall, Palmers Green as my father was in the Southgate Fire Brigade(2nd Officer George Walton) as too, was my eldest brother. I was 11 years of age at the outbreak of War and distincly remember the first air raid siren on the morning of 3rd September 1939. I immediately expected to see Germans marching up Green Lanes.....but my mother made us lay down on the floor, against the inside wall....she then soaked blankets in water and hung then over the doors ...to prevent gas coming in. My 9 year old sister put her gas mask on and cried "I don't want to die, I don't want to die". My father soon returned from the Fire Station behind the Town Hall and told us the scare was over.....the planes we presumed were "enemy" were not. My father and brother went all through the London Blitz, my eldest sister was in the WRNS, two brothers served in the army and one in the Royal Marines. My mother had a very worrying five years, as the Town Hall was the centre of all the bombing activities in the Southgate area. However, we all survived and all seven children still do!
One more memory (amongst many) I wonder if any one remembers me charging them a 1/2d to "look through the window of the mortuary at the rear of the Town Hall"...to see a "body"?