Joan Croker's Memories of the Home Front in Oxford

Name Joan Croker
Interview Date 20th April 2005
Subjects covered Air Raid Shelter, Childhood (Outbreak of War), Evacuation
Location Oxford, Harrow
People Included

This is an edited extract of a recorded interview conducted by Museum of Oxford with Mrs Joan Croker. It has been submitted to the People’s War website with her permission. A full version of the interview transcript and audio recording will be available at the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies.

Air Raid Shelters
… I remember my mother frying chips, one day, as we did in those days, and having to dash up, before we had the Morrison, up to the Andersen shelter in a neighbour’s garden, I remember her running with the pan, you know, up the street, and everybody scurrying, but it was not, as a youngster you don’t get the, you feel frightened but er not the seriousness behind it do you?

Childhood
…the worry, the feeling that war was about to be declared er that first week in September, …I was feeling, because of all the talk about it, quite excited at 8 years old, didn’t realise the seriousness of it all, and er we were sitting waiting for the broadcast by Chamberlain, and I remember sitting on the back of my dad’s chair with the legs with my arms and legs round his neck waiting and sitting by the radiogram and erm my mother had said to me “You know it isn’t exciting it’s very serious” and er and how people die and er this mixture of feeling that I had you know that I must not be smiling and not be happy this is really serious.

Evacuation
… what did I miss I think, well, home, cuddles, with mum and dad, that feeling of being erm away from a safe environment, I don’t mean that from a bombing point of view, but from being with your family, but at the same time, you know they were very kind to me, um well they had offered, erm er, what did I miss. Oh I missed my dog.

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