bombing and the coal-hole

This story is taken from an interview with Annie Rice at the Royal British legion, Bangor, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Anita Cochrane, transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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I lived off Agnes street on the Crumlin road. And Newart’s mill was bombed, and I worked in Newart’s mill. And went up the next morning to go to my work. Fire brigade, everything was there.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to me work?”
“Oh no, you’re not going to your work today. Because the factory was all bombed.”
So we all got sent home.

I mean, that’s all.
Oh, we heard the bombs. I heard bombs at the bottom of my street, where the church was bombed. Incendiary bombs. They hid up the coal hole. What we called the coal-hole. Everybody went up the coal-hole.

[out the back of the house?]
They were kitchen houses. They weren’t living rooms and all this. It was a kitchen-house, a scullery, a yard and in the house, in the living-room, there was what was called the “coal-hole”. For Coal fires, the coal was put up the coal-hole.

But people cleared them out and made like a Cloakroom out of them. And when the Germans come over, Everybody went up the coal-hole.

[how many people could fit in?]
It would surprise you how many. And it would surprise you the things that went on up the coal-hole. I don’t mean sex.

[how many was in your family?]
I was married. It was neighbours. Next-door neighbours I can’t even remember who was up.
My family … There was 6 of us. Though I was married I lived in the house that my Mother and father lived in for a long time.

[where was your husband?]
He was in the navy. But he was home then. He was Discharged off. But he was away when all this was on. He was still in the navy.
He was all over, everywhere. I couldn’t tell you.

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