ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

This story has been collected by Joanna Rycroft and Tom Crackles with assistance from Sue Flowers Green Close Studios and has been added to the site by Anne Wareing of the Lancs. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ guard.

Mrs Gibson was two when the war started so she didn't understand much, but after the war she thought Hitler was a wicked man because he invaded her country. She didn't know much about Hitler because the war was kept from her and her brother at home, and her parents listened to the radio when they were in bed. At school she helped by collecting scrap paper and rosehips (important for vitamin C).

She remembers Ludo and playing Snakes and Ladders with her brother, but she was too young to read and write. She had her own garden with hens and a pig, so she had a good supply of food but hardly any sweets. Her dad didn't go out to fight but he was a farm worker and also in the home guard.

Mrs Gibson didn't have any German friends in the war but after the war she was at Teacher Training College and she went out to Germany and met a German friend, whose family was pro-British especially her Mum.

She remembers carrying a gas mask everywhere, and it wasn't nice, it smelt horrible, it was tight but she liked the Mickey Mouse decoration. The decoration encouraged her to wear the gas mask.
.
Mrs Gibson had an evacuee come to stay and he was a teenager of about thirteen but he was not nice. He gave them all nits and she remembers them being combed from her hair over a tray. He was called Tommy Shanon. She thought he was strange though she had never met a teenager before. Her family didn't catch up with him after the war because they were too busy.

Mrs Gibson was very excited when the war ended because she knew there was going to be a bonfire. By then, her family had moved to a hamlet called Overtown and there was a bonfire on the hill with fireworks that she had never seen before. A parcel came from Australia to school and it had cake and chocolate in for the children to share. She also had bananas and oranges that she had never seen before. The parcel was from the Red Cross in Australia.

Her happiest memory about the end of the war was waving flags and going to the bonfire.

By Joanna Rycroft and Tom Crackles

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.