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This story was submitted to the People's War site by volunteer from The Chepstow Society on behalf of JohnCotton and has been added to the site with his permission. John Coyyon fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

JOHN COTTON

MY WARTIME CHEPSTOW

We came to live in Bulwark in 1940 from Poole in Dorset when my father was transferred to RNPF Caerwent, but the only visible signs of war at the time was the glow from the fires at Avonmouth and Bristol. I was about 7 years old and our first home was in Bulwark Avenue living with Mrs Skyrme and her daughter Anita near the Post Office. I went to school in one of the huts in the old camp off Alpha Road until it moved to a new site off Mathern Way, where I then lived with Mum and Pop and my elder sister Barbara. Shen went to Lydney Grammar School. My memories of the school dinners were of black bits in the mashed potatoes, and singing Welsh songs. The only teacher’s name I can remember was(I think!)Miss Seldon. Also in one of the huts was the church where we sang in the choir. Later in the war the American soldiers were billeted there prior to the ‘D’ Day landings and it was then I first saw and tasted pineapple! The garden shed at No 4 Mathern Way was made from one of the crates the guns arrived in. Later German POW’s were ‘incarcerated’ in the camp. I recall my sister dating a GI galled Jerry(see below)and as a result I smoked my first “Camel!” about then in the pill box in Sharp’s Lane. At one time the Arch in the town was in great danger from passing convoys.
Sam Sharp used to deliver his milk with a horse-drawn float, which he dispensed by ladle into your own jug. We used to help John Langham at
New House Farm(which disappeared because of the first Severn Bridge)at harvest time, no safety regulations then, stooking the corn and later thinning the root crops. My father helped him with his PAYE calculations and I’m sure the odd pat of butter came our way! They used to have home butchered bacon hanging from the beams and we toasted rashers in front of the range.

One of the hardest jobs was turning the handle for separating the cream and chipping the manglewurzels for the cattle but for a small boy the big treat was the rough home-made cider which we helped to press.

I graduated to Chepstow boys and vividly remember Digging for Victory in the garden in front of the school. I seem to remember eating in the British Restaurant at the bottom of the hill towards the market and the penny newly baked crusty rolls from the baker, or tuppence with jam. How we used to envy Melvin Jenkins who took time off to help on the farm with the harvest!

The War Drive saw us sticking savings stamps on the nose of a bomb and chalking rude messages to Adolph on it. All the allotments were in use along Burnt Barn Lane and at the junction with Thornwell Road was a shelter in the middle of the road like a traffic island.

My Dad was in the ��ѿ��ý Guard and manned AA guns but they never fired in anger. There were searchlights in the field above New House Farm for a while. My Mum worked in the Food Office in Beaufort Square, issuing Ration Books and dealing with all those coupons. The delights of my first white bread towards the end of the war,for some reason, on board a ship in Cardiff Docks!

We had great freedom in those days with everyone busy with the war effort and we ranged the countryside and if we did something wrong a clip round the ear from the police sergeant worked wonders! There were no antibiotics in those days and I nearly died from Peritonitis in the Royal Gwent Hospital. Dr Horan used to tell us stories of his student days and a sack of oatmeal as food to last the term!

EXTRACTS FROM MY 1945 DIARY

Monday 1st January Went skating on the warf, ice was 1 1/2 inches thick.
Friday 5th ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ in Cheltenham.
Saturday 6th Abbot and Costello in ‘One Night in the Tropics’(Saturday morning pictures admission 6d).
Sunday 7th First primrose picked by Old CharlieLangham(New House Farm).
Tuesday 9th ‘Merchantmen at War’ issued(one of the propaganda war books)cost 1/9d.
Saturday 13th Rita Hayworth in ‘Trouble in Texas’.
Sunday 14th Picked my first primrose at Earthen Pit.
Saturday 20th Snow and sledging. ‘Arizona Bound’, Buck Jones. New serial ‘Hurricane Express’.
Sunday 21st Turned handle to chip mangolds for Stan, saw 17 lambs. Got heifers in. 4 primroses.
Thursday 25th Made sledge.
Saturday 27th ‘Out West with the Peppers’.
Sunday 28th Sawed wood at the farm and sledging in afternoon. (Very few people got to school because of the snow this week).
Saturday 3rd February Made raft. Saw ‘Montana Justice’.
Wednesday 7th Big 3 meeting at Yalta.
Saturday 10th Shirley Temple in ‘Young People’.
Monday 12th Went to Newport.
Saturday 17th ‘Flying Wild’.
Saturday 24th Entrance exam at Monmouth. Went to mill(at Mathern). Jerry (US GI) came from Leaminton Spa.
Saturday 3rd March ‘Pack up your troubles’ Cricket in pm.
Wednesday 7th Lost 5 marbles to Bill(Soady).
Saturday 10th ‘Tarzan and the Green Godess’. Not good.
Saturday 17th ‘The Sign of the Wolf’ Plenty of violets at the Lime Kiln.
Tuesday 20th Exam at Larkfield.
Wednesday 21st Heard I’d got a scholarship at Monmouth also Wagner.
(I passed 7th and 3rd at Larkfield).
Friday 24th Celebratory tea and ‘The Story of Dr Weasle’ a good, true, story.
Saturday 24th ‘Vicar of Bray’. Got seed from Pillengers with Dad.
Thursday 29th Went birds-nesting in am.
Friday 30th Went to John Mac’s farm at Woolaston. Got a moorhen’s egg.
Saturday 31st ‘Unseen Enemy’.
Friday 6th April Got a lot of cowslips.
Saturday 7th ‘The Gold Rush’ Charlie Chaplin.
Sunday 8th Cowslips in am. Bluebells in pm.
Saturday 14th ‘Lucky Cisco Kid’.
Sunday 15th Saw a snake at Salts barn.
Tuesday 17th Got peasticks in pm.
Saturday 21st ‘Freckles came home’. Swimming at Maindee and then pictures in Newport.
Monday 23rd Made whistles in pm. Got a songthrush’s egg.
Tuesday 24th Games and bluebells.
Saturday 28th ‘Mayors Nest’ - Cowboy.
Saturday 5th May ‘Silver Bullet’
Sunday 6th Church
Monday 7th VE Day announced. Holiday.
Tuesday 8th VE Day. Chepstow until 12 pm. Bed at 1 am.

In those days many boys had a collection of birds eggs and flowers were for picking and apples for scrumping. We knew no better...........

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