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"This story was submitted to the People's War site by CSV/��ѿ��ý Radio Nottingham on behalf of Mary McClean with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

I was at school at Bosworth Road. It closed down because of being too near the ROF. People offered their front room for two hours for lessons. We were doing our lessons and then went to the door. We saw the King and Queen go past. My mum was a cleaner at the ROF. She couldn’t take her eyes off the Queen and her pearls and blue eyes. The Queen asked my mother what she did and she said she was only a cleaner. And the Queen said “every little helps”.

My sister in law went out with American officers. They gave her stockings and salted peanuts, and fruit cake in a tin.

During the Nottingham blitz in May 1941, they tipped the rubble behind our house. And there was a body and we jumped back. And it was a tailor’s dummy!

We were in the shelters and someone would say “does anyone want any cocoa?” and they would run out and make some! Dad never got out of bed once. My mother always took us to the shelters.

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