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I as eight years old when the war started, and in early September 1939 my family were on holiday on the Isle of Wight. This was the third year in a row we had been on holiday there.

As our home was in Croydon, South London, my parents considered it to dangerous for me and my two elder brothers to go home, so we were evacuated to Hove in Sussex. I can remember the adress now! 7 May Tree Walk. I have never been back, so do not know if it still exists. I was billeted with my brother Cliff, and our eldest brother Norman was billeted just two doors away. There was an existing boy at the house, and he took a dislike to me from the start.

My memories of that time are very sketchy. I know I was very unhappy and homesick, and I remember that every Saturday morning we were sent off to the local cinema. The pictures shown were to me very scary, and sometimes I would hide under the seats.

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The main thing I remember was once being in a game where I was the 'robber' who had been captured and my hands were tied behing my back. Going along a street, someone pushed me and I fell forward onto my chin (I could not stop myself as my hands were not free.) I remember waking up back at the house sitting in a chair. The others thought they had killed me!

After about ten months, my parents decided it was time for us to come back home, and we returned to Croydon. At about that time we were just getting into 'The Battle of Britain'. Iremember one Sunday evening witnessing a 'dog-fight' between one of our aircraft - I was told it was a Hurricane - and a German fighter. Empty cartridge shells were raining down on our houses. For a lad of 9 it was very exciting!

My father was working for the local Croydon Borough Council as deputy Borough Engineer, and he was put in charge of the local Civil Defence. This meant that for many of the nights he was not at home. However, he wanted to make sure we were safe, so he had a large part of our garage - which was part of the house - made into an air raid shelter. It was so constructed that if the house collapsed the shelter would protect us.

Little of the day-to-day events remain in my memory, but I remember the very heavy air raids in 1941. One night there was a lot of bombs dropped on Croydon, and even out in the suburbs in Shirley where we lived. I can remember the high pitched whistle of a bomb coming down, and a terific explosion. All the glass in our house was shattered, doors off their hinges, and chaos everwhere. The bomb - I am told a 250lb one - landed just the otherside of the house opposite. It was this house that shielded us from much of the blast. The house the otherside, a semi was completely demolished, and people killed. The house opposite but one door up had the entire back of the house torn off!. As if it had been cut with a knife, leaving all the rooms exposed.

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