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I was an ARP near Hornsey Road. Once there was an air-raid, I would check if people were OK in each block of flats. They made the shelter in the green and told people to turn the lights off at night.

I would have to bring my two children into the shelter as well.

I was out one night and saw a parachute land. I blew my whistle to alert the home guard office. There were incendiary devices attached to the parachute. Everyone was evacuated otherwise the flats would have exploded.

It was very tough because of rationing.

I was in London for most of the war but it got very frightening living in the dark at nights and I put my name down to be evacuated to Lancashire with my children.

When the war finished you could not get in a pub because they were full of people celebrating!

So much of London was destroyed - you never knew who was alive or dead. Every time you heard planes overhead, you'd pick up your belongings and run into the shelter.

My husband got called up for the 8th Army. He was away for approximately four years in Egypt. For sixpence you could get a tiny slip of paper to write messages to loved ones, but they were censored!

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