Dodging the V1s

I was born in 1934 and so was 5 when war broke out. In late 1940, I was evacuated to Morecambe to live with a family who had one boy. It was dreadul, I was blamed for any problem, felt an intruder and nine months later, I told my parent that if they did not come and feth me home, I would start walking there.

At that time, my parents ran a newspaper shop which a large cellar below. My father fitted out the cellar as a shelter and I spent much of the war underground. Every morning I would wait for the "all clear" to rush to the library about helf a mile away to change my reading, while my mother waited at the door for my return. During the bombing and particular during the V1 period I would be running home if the siren was heard.

The 1s were actually less frightening than the bombs. You could track them going overhead and hear when the engine cut out and the weapon began to fall...that was the time to panic and that was time when I ran the half mile in record time, while my mother suffered heart attacks until I was back underground.

We were never hit directly, but did suffer damage from a bomb which demolished a house three dors away in Schubert Road.

The year the war ended in Europe and the Far East was the year I took my 11 plus examination. Clearly, my reading during the war stood me in great stead...I passed with credits and went on to Emmanuel School in Wandsworth, a public school that accepted a percentage of non paying pupils who achieved academic success.

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