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I was born in Battersea, London in June 1939 and I suppose that my Memories of the war should be very few, but I can remember quite alot. For instance I can recall walking from The Worlds End Chelsea (where I lived with my elder sister and mother) to sleep in the underground station at South Kensington each night. We would set off mid afternoon as it was quite a long walk, and arrive as the commuters were still coming home from work. I presume that this early arrival made sure that mum had the same spot every evening to make us as comfortable as possible. My sister and I would play on the platform even though the trains would still be coming and going, whenever I have traveled on the underground since those days, that rush of warm air and the smell has always taken me instantly back in time.
I cannot put a date on when I was evacuated, but I do remember standing on a railway platform grasping my sisters hand, with our names on pieces of cardboard tied around our necks with string, our gas masks in boxes over our shoulders and mum in floods of tears, we must have looked a sorry sight, me at the tender age of what?? three or four and my sister just three years older than me. I do not recall the journey, which must have taken hours and hours as we ended up in Aberystwyth, in Wales. which is just about as far from London as you can go in a straight line!! My sister and I were lucky enough to be placed together with a lovely lady and her husband who we called Auntie Ann and Uncle John. There are many instances that I can recall from the one year that we spent in Wales and I can honestly say it was a wonderful experiance. We came back to London with welsh accents and even at that young age we had aquired a taste for good food which was not to be had in London at that time.

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