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When the war started, my brother, Brian and I were living in south London with our parents.I was almost nine years old, and my brother was five. Like most London children we were evacuated to the country, so that we were safe.My mother came with us on the day we left London, and I can remember travelling on a "Green-Line" bus from Victoria, to a destination unknown at that time.We arrived at a reception point,and were duly "selected" by our host.My mother refused to go anywhere unless she came too.

We settled down for a few weeks in a fairly routine existence going to the local school, and getting used to country life. We left father behind in London, as he was in the Fire Brigade, and actually drove the engine for station 88 in Wandsworth. One day we set off for a walk in the country, with a friend and her twin daughters.We were enjoying the open countryside, in fields which seemed to stretch for miles, and it was a glorious day. Suddenly, all hell was let loose in the sky above. There seemed to be aircraft everywhere. The only place that offered any shelter was a wooden hut, rather like a garden shed. Naturally we were all terrified, and cowered in there for a while, until my mother shouted, "let's get out of here, it is too dangerous". So we did, and ran for our lives.l We heard an explosion, and looked back to see the shed disintegrating like matchsticks thrown in the air.Soon after, the commotion ceased, but it left us all pretty shaken, and to this day, I still have the picture in my mind of all the wood tossed in the air, and how lucky we were.

Apparently german aircraft were intercepted, and there was a "dogfight", and they jettisoned all their bombs. We did hear that some people were killed on that "quiet" day in the country.Needless to say shortly after that we returned to London, and apart from a couple of short trips away, stayed for the duration of the war. My father survived the London Docks fire, and also a direct hit on Wandsworth Fire Station, when several firemen were killed. We also survived many "near misses" from Doodlebugs, especially while shopping in Clapham Junction one Saturday afternoon.However nothing left such a lasting impression as that quiet afternoon in Marlow.

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