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“This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from CXV Newcastle on behalf of Mary Thomson and has been added to the site with her permission. Mary Thomson fully understands the site's terms and conditions”.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
BY
MARY THOMSON, THOMAS POLLARD, CATHERINE & CHARLES SANDERSON

I was a child during the war. I still remember the air raids. Mam used to rush us children down to the air raid shelters as Dad stayed in bed. He said if he had to die, it would be there in bed. One night we all went in to the Salvation Army tunnel or cellars. Luckily that night Dad came too as when we went home, we saw we’d been bombed out. It always stuck in my mind Mother saying she had just put a full basin of sugar out. We moved from our home which was in Walpole Street, South Shields to Palmerston Street. I had a rag doll which I named Bella Biscuit and it broke my heart when she went missing in a raid. I also remember a lovely man called Jimmy Pollard who used to bring cocoa biscuits to the shelter. We kids used to look forward to the raids, obviously not realising the danger.

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