Bomb Alley kid N0 23
Having packed our suit cases with whatever we deem important,we say goodbye to my aun,t and uncle thanking them for allowing us to stay with them over the last six months,Dad helps to carry our cases down to the bus which will take us to the station in Canterbury, and the train which will take us to London, I really dont want to go,and its very hard to say goodbye to my dad as I love him very much, and will miss him,and his jokes, and his sense of humour, also his stories of his working days when we have dinner in the evenings.Dad say he will write to me to keep me infomed of how things are going,also he will tell me all about the flying boats, and what they are like,and where he has been,I can tell my dad is upset at us going away as much as me,I really wish I could say with him ,and let my Mum go away, by now the train we are to catch is pulling into the ststion,Dad opens the door of the carriage,and puts our cases inside,so I have to reallise that this is it,and we are going away,I give my Dad a big hug, as the Gaurd sounds the whistle letting the driver know he can move off I can see tears in my Dads eyes, and I have never seen my dad like that in my life.as the train begins to move off all we can do is wave to each other.My Mum seems to be taking it all O K,but I cant help but wonder when I might see Dad again.
On the train there are many soldiers, and airmen, and the sailers who are going to Chatham Navy base where they will join their ships,two hours later we arrive in London we have to change trains for one that is going to Reading,arriving at reading we have to catch a bus to a place called Shinfield Estate,I have never sen so many house in one place,its like a big town to me. but all houses, we find the house where the lady lives that we are to stay with, and she seems very nice,and has made dinner for us after we have eaten she takes us upstairs to show us the room where now will use as our home, she says we will be welcome to come down and sit with her in the front room and she says she will wellcome our company,she says her husband is in the army, and is in Africa fighting the Germans troops.I will have to sleep with my Mum as there is not another bed in the room.I dont feel very cumfortable about this at all as I have never had to sleep with anyone even my Dad that I can rember, as I always had my own room back home.Next day my Mum say she will go and see the Headmaster or Misstress at the school I will have to attend, so an appointment will be made to give me a little test to find out what class I will be in.so I to be have given some sums, and writing to do, and the teacher says she will notify Mum how I fair.also when I can start at the school.this school is far larger then my old school, and so many boys and girls,I dont really fancy this school its so overwhelmingly big, and to someone like me comming from a smaller school.so I will have to grin and bare it as Dad would say. We hear from the school to say I will start in form three,as owing to the schooling I lost back home, I do not come up to their standard.so will have to do a lot to catch up,Mum says the reason they are in advance to me is owing to the schooling we lost in our county kent with all the air raids.and bombings,so they have not lost so much schooling. this is why my Mum decided to come away from home to here as its much safer.and I will learn more..
Bomb Alley Kid 2011
Title plate created by Ronnie B Goodwin
Sunday 23 January 2011
Monday 17 January 2011
Bomb Alley Kid No 22
Bomb all No 22
Now that we have no home to live in, and my Dad is going to work in Chatham, my mum thinks it may be better if we moved away from Kent so she is gong to make enquiries as to where we might go,she find out that Berkshire seems to be pretty quiet,so the person who gave her that imformation will also give her some address to write to as the women is a friend of hers,so Mum writes to this woman and recieves a reply to say we would be very welcome to come and stay with her,and she can also find Mum some work so she will have money help with the money Dad sends us,also there is a school very close to where she lives so that I can continue my schooling, I am not very happy about moveing because it will mean I have to leave all my friends and I would rather stay around somewhere that I know rather than have to make new friends.But Mum has made up her mind so we shall move, My dad isnt very happy either about it,as I hear him and Mum talking and he feels it may break up the family,also he would be able to spend weekends with us if we were nearer,but difficult if we are all that way away,also travel isnt all that easy with a war going on, and Reading town is the other side of London in the west,But my Mum says she knows Reading well because my Grandad was a Skipper on one of the Thames pleasure Boats when she was a young girl.infact their Farm was named Letchlade after one of Grandads favourite parts of the Thames after they moved to Kent.But my Mum has made up her mind and says she cant stand all the bomings and such that are ging on and is playing on her nerves,so Dad says if thats how she feels then I suppose there is nothing for it but to let us move..I ask my dad if we really .do have to go,but he says if thats how Mum feels then it will have to be, but again I dont want to leave my Dad and my friends, Dad says he dosnt want to not see me and mum either as often as he could if we were nearer.but Mum has made up her mind so thats it.and if it is likely to make mum ill staying here, then its the best thing for her.as we dont want her to be ill do we ? Dad says he will be able to come and see us sometimes when he can.and when he has the time.
Now that we have no home to live in, and my Dad is going to work in Chatham, my mum thinks it may be better if we moved away from Kent so she is gong to make enquiries as to where we might go,she find out that Berkshire seems to be pretty quiet,so the person who gave her that imformation will also give her some address to write to as the women is a friend of hers,so Mum writes to this woman and recieves a reply to say we would be very welcome to come and stay with her,and she can also find Mum some work so she will have money help with the money Dad sends us,also there is a school very close to where she lives so that I can continue my schooling, I am not very happy about moveing because it will mean I have to leave all my friends and I would rather stay around somewhere that I know rather than have to make new friends.But Mum has made up her mind so we shall move, My dad isnt very happy either about it,as I hear him and Mum talking and he feels it may break up the family,also he would be able to spend weekends with us if we were nearer,but difficult if we are all that way away,also travel isnt all that easy with a war going on, and Reading town is the other side of London in the west,But my Mum says she knows Reading well because my Grandad was a Skipper on one of the Thames pleasure Boats when she was a young girl.infact their Farm was named Letchlade after one of Grandads favourite parts of the Thames after they moved to Kent.But my Mum has made up her mind and says she cant stand all the bomings and such that are ging on and is playing on her nerves,so Dad says if thats how she feels then I suppose there is nothing for it but to let us move..I ask my dad if we really .do have to go,but he says if thats how Mum feels then it will have to be, but again I dont want to leave my Dad and my friends, Dad says he dosnt want to not see me and mum either as often as he could if we were nearer.but Mum has made up her mind so thats it.and if it is likely to make mum ill staying here, then its the best thing for her.as we dont want her to be ill do we ? Dad says he will be able to come and see us sometimes when he can.and when he has the time.
Friday 14 January 2011
Bomb Alley No20
These doodle bugs as we now call them, are really likly to breakdown peoples spirits because you never know when they might be comming over, as there are no warnings with these things you only hear that crackling engine,so it pays to listen day and night very hard to hear them and hope it dosnt stop anywhere near were you are.
My Dad has some bad news for me and mum,he says that during the night our house has been hit with a bomb,and is in a mess,also he say that Uncle Jacks wife is lucky not to have been killed,because she was staying over night,luckly she slept in the front bedroom, and it was the rear of our house that cought the worst of it,so she is O K but the bed was covered in plaster board and glass, which also hit the bead board so she has been very lucky,I ask how my Rabbits are,but Dad say he is sorry to have to say that they were killed in the blast,and the hutches were blown to pieces, this upsets me and I cry,as I loved my pets,anyway Dad says we will have to come back and rescue as mutch as we can from the house,so its into the horse trap, and Aunty Flow takes us over to what was our house,.when we arrive I cant beleive what I see there is rubble everywhere, and big cracks in the walls, and hardly any roof left,our shelter is O K so we would have been O K had we been sleeping there.Dad says he will burrow one of the works vans so that we can remove as much of the furniture as is O K.Uncle Jack says we can use one of the sheds he has to keep the furniture in,all my toys that were kept in a big chest are all O K so thats good on my part.although I cant see me playing wtih them for sometime now.once we have saved as much as is possible, and taken up to the farm, and stored,My Mum is very upset and cryes all the time, so dad puts his armes around her and says everything will be O K as we are all well, and safe, and everything else can be replaced in the future,the pretty young girl that lived with the old lady accross the road from us was killed,they had run under the stairs as they had no time to get to their shelter,but a piece of shrapnel from the the bomb which damaged our house had passed though the bricks at the front of her house and then through the starcase and decapitated her, and yet the old lady had survived with no injury,I really cant beleive she is dead,she was such a lovely girl,but as my Dad says unfurtunaly that is what war does, and can be very unfair.but then war isnt fair anyway
Now we have no house we have nowhere to stay, but my Aunt Flo says we must come and stay with them at their farm, my Mum dosnt really want to but we havnt anyway to go.so have no option,it also means that I will have to go to a new school,where my cousins go.in Hales Place Nr. Canterbury,I really dont like this as it means I have to leave all my friends back home, and make new ones, but I have to go to school, so Mum has made an appiontment to see the head teacher at this schoo lto find out what class I will be put into,this means I have to do a little test,and will have to start in a lower class than my other school at home in Sturry.which was class 4 now I will be in Class 3. I am not shure that I like this school anyway,but it is a pretty little school if you like that kind of thing so I will start on the monday with Johny and Ceril my cousins who go there,but after a time I begin to settle in, and make new friends,some of the boys and girls come up to the farm and we play in the woods on uncles farm,there is one pretty girl that sends me little love notes,and asking me to meet her I have never had a girl friend as such, so we do meet in the woods, or in the meadow, where we kiss and cuddle,I begine to have feelings for this girl that I never had before with any other girl,but I am now 12 years old,and when Jean Butler and I were playing I was only about 10 or so,My cousins also have girl friends as well,we also try smoking, and buy cigerettes to take to the woods, and smoke we buy these from our pocket money my cousins are usualy sick, but I quite like it, and am enjoying them.and want to appear all grown up like my dad, and his friends,I meet with my girl friend at our usual meeting place in the woods, after school and after tea,but we have been seen by some man who has told my uncle who in turn tells my Dad,this man has also told the girls Dad saying we were up to no good,.and were only partly dressed,there is no way we were like this, but he is lieing,but you cant argue with addults,so we both get a really hard telling off, and are told we must never meet again except at school,I recon he was a nasty man just wanting to get us into trouble,but it did put paid to our lovley little romance..pity because I really did love her in a schoolboy way.
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My Dad has some bad news for me and mum,he says that during the night our house has been hit with a bomb,and is in a mess,also he say that Uncle Jacks wife is lucky not to have been killed,because she was staying over night,luckly she slept in the front bedroom, and it was the rear of our house that cought the worst of it,so she is O K but the bed was covered in plaster board and glass, which also hit the bead board so she has been very lucky,I ask how my Rabbits are,but Dad say he is sorry to have to say that they were killed in the blast,and the hutches were blown to pieces, this upsets me and I cry,as I loved my pets,anyway Dad says we will have to come back and rescue as mutch as we can from the house,so its into the horse trap, and Aunty Flow takes us over to what was our house,.when we arrive I cant beleive what I see there is rubble everywhere, and big cracks in the walls, and hardly any roof left,our shelter is O K so we would have been O K had we been sleeping there.Dad says he will burrow one of the works vans so that we can remove as much of the furniture as is O K.Uncle Jack says we can use one of the sheds he has to keep the furniture in,all my toys that were kept in a big chest are all O K so thats good on my part.although I cant see me playing wtih them for sometime now.once we have saved as much as is possible, and taken up to the farm, and stored,My Mum is very upset and cryes all the time, so dad puts his armes around her and says everything will be O K as we are all well, and safe, and everything else can be replaced in the future,the pretty young girl that lived with the old lady accross the road from us was killed,they had run under the stairs as they had no time to get to their shelter,but a piece of shrapnel from the the bomb which damaged our house had passed though the bricks at the front of her house and then through the starcase and decapitated her, and yet the old lady had survived with no injury,I really cant beleive she is dead,she was such a lovely girl,but as my Dad says unfurtunaly that is what war does, and can be very unfair.but then war isnt fair anyway
Now we have no house we have nowhere to stay, but my Aunt Flo says we must come and stay with them at their farm, my Mum dosnt really want to but we havnt anyway to go.so have no option,it also means that I will have to go to a new school,where my cousins go.in Hales Place Nr. Canterbury,I really dont like this as it means I have to leave all my friends back home, and make new ones, but I have to go to school, so Mum has made an appiontment to see the head teacher at this schoo lto find out what class I will be put into,this means I have to do a little test,and will have to start in a lower class than my other school at home in Sturry.which was class 4 now I will be in Class 3. I am not shure that I like this school anyway,but it is a pretty little school if you like that kind of thing so I will start on the monday with Johny and Ceril my cousins who go there,but after a time I begin to settle in, and make new friends,some of the boys and girls come up to the farm and we play in the woods on uncles farm,there is one pretty girl that sends me little love notes,and asking me to meet her I have never had a girl friend as such, so we do meet in the woods, or in the meadow, where we kiss and cuddle,I begine to have feelings for this girl that I never had before with any other girl,but I am now 12 years old,and when Jean Butler and I were playing I was only about 10 or so,My cousins also have girl friends as well,we also try smoking, and buy cigerettes to take to the woods, and smoke we buy these from our pocket money my cousins are usualy sick, but I quite like it, and am enjoying them.and want to appear all grown up like my dad, and his friends,I meet with my girl friend at our usual meeting place in the woods, after school and after tea,but we have been seen by some man who has told my uncle who in turn tells my Dad,this man has also told the girls Dad saying we were up to no good,.and were only partly dressed,there is no way we were like this, but he is lieing,but you cant argue with addults,so we both get a really hard telling off, and are told we must never meet again except at school,I recon he was a nasty man just wanting to get us into trouble,but it did put paid to our lovley little romance..pity because I really did love her in a schoolboy way.
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Monday 10 January 2011
BombAlleyKid No 21
B A No 21
Time goes by, and I hear that my dad has to report to Chatham for his call up registration,this I rember from Raymond the boy next door and he of course was killed on his first flight ,so dad goes up to Chatham and reports to the office centre,as they are ordered to do,When he comes back after reporting he saya he will not be going into the army after all,as whist he was waiting with some of the other men, a man from the aircraft company that makes the Sunderland flying Boats asks if there is anyone who can drive heavy lorries as they need a driver for delivering aircraft parts and bodies to other parts of the country, as it happens Dad is the only one who has this qualifcation,so he will be driving these lorries. for Short Brothers. but he will have to move to chatham to be nearer the works as he will be on call 24 hrs.we are still having air raids so this means Mum an I will be on our own, as Dad wont be at home. we still spend some nights in the shelter,also at school we spend a lot of time in the school shelters,Dad says we should stay with my aunt Flo,at the farm,so this is what we will do, my Mum isnt very happy about it,even though Flo is her sister,and somtimes they have words as my Mum seems to be doing a lot of housework and cooking for them,Dad say this is bound to happen because where there are seven people all living under one roof it will cause problems,regards sleeping and washing, as there is only the one bathroom and toilet. Once again to-night the air raid sirens sound warning of another raid on its way,so again we have to spend the night in the air raid shelter,at Aunt Floe:s shelter,My Dad has one more week before he has to report to Chatham so he will be on duty again to- night over at Sturry, so we will be on our own except for the cousins and Aunt Flos husband Ritchard,Its around 11 P M when this raid starts so Mum says she cant sleep, so will sit on the top steps of the shelter and watch what goes on over the town.meanwhile the rest of us try to settledown for the night as best we can.In the morning I hear my Mum talking to Aunt Flo about the long conversation she had whilst sitting at the top of the shelter.with a Nun who she says was on her way to the monestry or convent which is on Uncles Ritchards Farm down in the woods,Aunt Flo says there is no Convent or Monestry now standing, only the ruins of one that used to be there, and that was a Jesuit Monestry many years ago. so where the Nun was going only she would have known and maybe she had lost her way,anyway Nuns were not allowd out after midnight from the Monestry they always had to in or back by Ten pm as far as my Aunt can rember.so they recon my Mum must have fallen asleep and had a dream,but Mum say because it such a lovly night she herself had actualy gone for a walk around the farm, and it was when she came back that she had met the Nun, Mum never said what they talked about that night, ButThen one day my Mum met a old man down at the shops in Hales Place, and got talking to him and happened to mention about the monestry,he new somthing about it but it was a ruin even in his days he said but he rembered that a Nun was knocked down and killed by a train on the crossing up to the what is now the track up to the farm,and of course would have been the track to the Monestry, he said that others had heard that the Nun had been seen by some others on occasions,so perhaps the Nun was a restless spirit { a ghost } My Mum had always maintained that she had a second sight, and had seen ghosts when she worked at the hospital as a nurse,she had never said anything to anyone outside of the family as others would think she was a little mad.My Mother was very religious, and would have many different religious denominations visit our house before we were bombed out,I guess I will never know the real truth about any of this but my Mum was always adament that she really did talk to this Nun.on that evening.
Time goes by, and I hear that my dad has to report to Chatham for his call up registration,this I rember from Raymond the boy next door and he of course was killed on his first flight ,so dad goes up to Chatham and reports to the office centre,as they are ordered to do,When he comes back after reporting he saya he will not be going into the army after all,as whist he was waiting with some of the other men, a man from the aircraft company that makes the Sunderland flying Boats asks if there is anyone who can drive heavy lorries as they need a driver for delivering aircraft parts and bodies to other parts of the country, as it happens Dad is the only one who has this qualifcation,so he will be driving these lorries. for Short Brothers. but he will have to move to chatham to be nearer the works as he will be on call 24 hrs.we are still having air raids so this means Mum an I will be on our own, as Dad wont be at home. we still spend some nights in the shelter,also at school we spend a lot of time in the school shelters,Dad says we should stay with my aunt Flo,at the farm,so this is what we will do, my Mum isnt very happy about it,even though Flo is her sister,and somtimes they have words as my Mum seems to be doing a lot of housework and cooking for them,Dad say this is bound to happen because where there are seven people all living under one roof it will cause problems,regards sleeping and washing, as there is only the one bathroom and toilet. Once again to-night the air raid sirens sound warning of another raid on its way,so again we have to spend the night in the air raid shelter,at Aunt Floe:s shelter,My Dad has one more week before he has to report to Chatham so he will be on duty again to- night over at Sturry, so we will be on our own except for the cousins and Aunt Flos husband Ritchard,Its around 11 P M when this raid starts so Mum says she cant sleep, so will sit on the top steps of the shelter and watch what goes on over the town.meanwhile the rest of us try to settledown for the night as best we can.In the morning I hear my Mum talking to Aunt Flo about the long conversation she had whilst sitting at the top of the shelter.with a Nun who she says was on her way to the monestry or convent which is on Uncles Ritchards Farm down in the woods,Aunt Flo says there is no Convent or Monestry now standing, only the ruins of one that used to be there, and that was a Jesuit Monestry many years ago. so where the Nun was going only she would have known and maybe she had lost her way,anyway Nuns were not allowd out after midnight from the Monestry they always had to in or back by Ten pm as far as my Aunt can rember.so they recon my Mum must have fallen asleep and had a dream,but Mum say because it such a lovly night she herself had actualy gone for a walk around the farm, and it was when she came back that she had met the Nun, Mum never said what they talked about that night, ButThen one day my Mum met a old man down at the shops in Hales Place, and got talking to him and happened to mention about the monestry,he new somthing about it but it was a ruin even in his days he said but he rembered that a Nun was knocked down and killed by a train on the crossing up to the what is now the track up to the farm,and of course would have been the track to the Monestry, he said that others had heard that the Nun had been seen by some others on occasions,so perhaps the Nun was a restless spirit { a ghost } My Mum had always maintained that she had a second sight, and had seen ghosts when she worked at the hospital as a nurse,she had never said anything to anyone outside of the family as others would think she was a little mad.My Mother was very religious, and would have many different religious denominations visit our house before we were bombed out,I guess I will never know the real truth about any of this but my Mum was always adament that she really did talk to this Nun.on that evening.
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