When the war broke out

When war broke out, I was attending Bridge Street Infants' School, now Holyoaksfield School.”

“I was nearly evacuated to Canada. I had an aunt in Canada and during the war many children were sent there. She wanted me to join her. I was very shy and didn't want to go.  The only thing I can remember is having a medical examination. Then a ship went down, it was torpedoed, and all the children were lost. After that my mother said 'No'. 'Near to the school was a little chapel, we called it the Mission Hall. We had a school evacuated to Redditch and they shared Bridge Street School with us. We had half a day of lessons, then we would go into the mission hall where we had various activities such as singing and drama, but no lessons. One week we had school in the morning and other activities in the afternoon, then we changed during the next week so that we had activities in the morning and school in the afternoon's. 'Orchard Street was on a steep hill. We had a basement kitchen and from my bedroom window I could look across and see right to Birmingham and Coventry. At night you knew which place had been bombed from the direction of the fires. We didn't have an air-raid shelter but we had a coal-house that led off the basement kitchen, very handy to nip out and make a cup of tea during a raid. The siren sounded two or three times a week. We had to get out of bed and stay in the coal-house until the all-clear sounded, then we could go back to bed.”

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