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I lived in Macclesfield all through the war and only being young I had a Mickey Mouse gas mask which we all thought were great fun to wear. I attended Christ Church Primary School and our brick built shelters were in the nearby churchyard. I shall always remember sat in these, with gas mask on and looking at the shelter walls where someone had painted all the Disney characters on the walls. They seemed so magical and took our minds off the fears of war and maybe impending raids. To this day I still love to watch the Disney films Bambi, Snow White and the seven dwarfs, the cartoons featuring Pop-eye, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Minnie and Goofy.

People talk about bananas and there seems to be some controversy as to whether they were around during the war.
I can remember in the street that I lived in, Newton Street Macclesfield, that a house at the top end of the street had some bananas displayed in the front window.
Many locals, like ourselves, walked up to the top of the street on the opposite side to look across at the display and then turn around and come back on the nearside to see the spectacle at close range. How they had got hold of them was never questioned but it was an amazing site at the time.
Barbara Hughes (nee Booth).

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