Memiors of a bomb alley Kid.
As a young boy of 7 years old I live with my Mum and Dad in an end terrace house my name is Leonard Douglas Pankhurst,also my Dad is exactly the same name, I am named after him, my Mothers name is Edith may Pankhurst, My Dad was born in Dartford Kent west of the river Medway, so he is known as a Kentish man,because I was born in Sturry I am east of the medway so I am known as a Man of kent,my Mother was born in London within the sounds of the Bow bells so she is a London Cockney,
We live in kent which is called the Garden of England,owing to there being many orchards of fruit trees such as Apple Pear Cherry and Plumb,so we do eat plenty of fruit,which we steal from the orchards this is known as scrumping,but should we ever be unlucky enough to get court by the man who ownes the orchard he would hit us with a stick or hand us over to the local Policeman,who in turn would prentend that we were going to prison, but take us home to our mums and dads where we would probbaly get another good telling off,but so far we have never been court.We are also very lucky that we have plenty of places to play in the fields around us,and we can climb and hide in the orchard trees,
We have been listning to the radio a lot, because we hear that we may be going to war with the German Nazis, and to-day we hear on the Radio that as from this day the 11 of September 1939 we are now at war with Germany, this scares me as I think that as from to-morrow I may die.and I dont want to,I ask Mum and Dad if this will happen, and they say no, because we have many soldiers, and plenty of guns and tanks also .Mum and dad say we have God on our side.who will look after us.so Dad say I should go and call on my pals Derek Allen and Roger and go out to play with them as usual,Rogers Dad has a market garden just down the lane that runs between the field next to my home, and my pals home,at the bottom of this lane there is also a pig farm and the main railway line to Ramsgate,and sometimes the trains have to wait at the signal here so we talk to the train drivers, and we also put pennies on the rails to get it flattened by the wheels of the engine,but we have to be carefull as sometime the penny will spin out at high speed in any direction,and this could be really serius should it hit you,Roger has a big brother who if he finds us in his dads goosberry and fruit bushes pinching gooseberries he will throw stones at us,.so again we have to be very warey that he dosnt see us.
will add more at a later date.
Great story Len, looking forward to further posts
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ReplyDeleteanyone rembering these days can contact me aat lennpankhurst@aol.com
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