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I lived in Nuneaton, Warwickshire all my life until recently. I moved to Seaton in Devon 1999.

I was nearly 12 when war broke out and watched my teachers disappear slowly as war broke out (they were called up).

We had a bad blitz in 1941 when the railway was targeted. We lived between the two railway stations. They missed the railway by about 100 yds targeting it with a land mine, this unfortunately took away some local houses and also a local hotel was hit with another land mine.

The church at “Chilvers, Coton” was hit. During the war we had German prisoner’s at Arbury Hall who volunteered to rebuild the church totally. One of the German prisoners was a master sculpture and he sculpted a Cross out of the stone. They built the church as an apology and as a thanks for the treatment that they received which they found good. The prisoners didn’t want to be here anymore than we wanted to be prisoners in their country.

The prisoners in the town were allowed out toward the end of the war and were polite and very well- behaved.
I worked in a shop that sold “ Seaman’s socks” oyster-coloured oily socks that were worn under the boots to keep your feet dry and warm. The prisoners bought these “coupon-free” socks to wear and used to walk around the town with their briefcases and actually looked like typical Englishmen.

Ladies used to buy “coupon-free” socks, wash them over and over again to get rid of the oil and unpick the socks to knit them into jumpers.

When I was at school I remember my mum being given coupons for the family - 20 coupons for clothes for the season.. One coat would use up 18 coupons alone. At school, the government allowed us to have more coupons for the children. 40 coupons extra which were margarine coupons that also be used for clothes for growing children. We had to be five foot three and over. The headmaster delegated me to assist him, measuring and issuing the coupons to them that qualified. When it came to my turn, I was five foot two and seven eighths and therefore didn’t qualify. I was really miffed. My mum said, couldn’t I stretch for an extra eighth of an inch and I told her that I stretched as far as I could.

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