ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

In 1939 at the start of the war I was 5 and living at 23 Hunton Hill, Erdington, Birmingham. Soon after the bombing started we had an Anderson air raid shelter in the back garden in which we stpent most nights.

One night I was woken up by the most horrific screaming noise, that I shall never forget. It was the sound pf what was called a whistling bomb. The noise grew louder as the bomb came down before exploding not more than 500 from where I was in the shelter. It had landed on one of the four floored wings of Highcroft Hall hospital. This was a hospital for the old and infirm people. The next few days saw staff coming round to collect bits of bodies that had been scattered around the area.

A few nights later we had a phosphurus incendiary land in our back yard. Luckily it was on the blue bricks and just burnt itself out with only scorching the paintwork of the back door and window frame. This made my father decide that I was going to be evacuated.

Arrangements were made for me to go to my Godmother who lived in Montgomery, Mid-Wales. Although it was the county town of Montgomeryshire, now called Powis, it had never grown larger than a small market town. But market day in the Broad Street was great fun for the Kids. Specially if one of the animals got free from the cattle market behind the town hall. The chase would start to get the animal back to the enclosure for the auctioneer to do his work.

My Godmother, Sis Humphries, lived at Church Bank House and from the picture window in their lounge the view was straight up the Broad Street to the town hall. The Broad Street was lined with farmers stalls selling local produce on market days.

I obviously had to go to school in Montgomery, which was very different to the one I started at, Slade Road School, Erdington. The one thing that sticks in my mind is air raid practice. Should there have been an air raid warning we had to find our gas masks in the cardboard boxes with our name written on, and take it with us as we ran accross the playground to lay down under the hedge of the adjacent field. Air raid shelters, what air raid shelters?, there wasn't any in Montgomery that I knew of. These practices only took place when the weather was good and the ground dry. I don't know what would have happened if some bomber had come over in the winter.

My evacuation ended abruptly when I contracted an ear infection and had to return home to go into the Childrens Hospital in Birmingham for an operation. After coming home and recovering my parents would not let me go away again. So my father sold our house to an engine driver for £250 and we moved to Sutton Coldfield where I lived until I got married in 1960.

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