Part No 8
There now seems to be more big bombers comming over at night ,to try and get to London to bomb it,so now we spend a lot of time sleeping in the shelter,My Dad and the other Dads seem to be on fire duty or something now most nights ,also we tend to take more notice of the air raid warning sirens, but we never seem to hear an all clear one these days,this is because the Germans seem to come over most nights on there bombing raids to London,Some nights Derek and Allen and their sisters with Mrs Butler there Mum come over and stay with us in our shelter,and we tell stories and play games,its good fun for us,,but I dont suppose our parents would say the same.but if they are afraid they dont ever show it, more often now the bombers are met by ack ack guns on Black Heath which is on the outskirts of London,and although many manage to get to London,and drop their bombs t many are damaged or shot down,those who think they can get back to Germany, gain hight by dropping their bombs anywhere on the return,this way they can gain hight, and use less fuel this means that we in Kent get most of the bombs,so we hear bombs being dropped most nights this is why we never seem to hear an all clear siren I guess.
It now turne out that the army have taken over the big house called Homewood Hall that belongs to the butcher,so now we have real soldiers,with real guns and a real tank,and lorries.my Mum isnt too happy about this as she thinks if the Germans got to know they may try to bomb the place and we only live across the road from this place,also near to Canterbury we have a big army barracks where the Buffs Regiment are stationed,dureing the day the soldiers use the big field where we play to practice using their guns mostly brenguns, and they dig trenches in which they set up tipods to hold the guns,they also have Boufour anti air craft Guns on trailers,these are hidden away in the orchard of the house,luckly we can still play in the field,so we get to know many of the soldiers pretty well,and they show us how to load a rifle and if we were able, fire it.also we get a few cap badges from them, as they like us to clean them,
they teach us how to slope arms,present arms shoulder arms Etc. that they have to do,and how to march,so this is all great fun for us lads.
Jean Butler has her birthday and has ask me if I would like to come to it.on Saturday
so I am quite looking forward to it,My Mum and Dad are down at their allotment which is alongside the railway line where they grow potatoes and carrots and greens to help out with the rations.During Jeans party the air raid.siren goes off once again,so we run out to get into the Butlers shelter, but before we can, we see three aircraft comming over the woods from the south from Dover direction very very low,and we can see sparks comming from their wings,as they approach they wiggle their wings so that they can spray their bullets over a wider area.as they fly over us we can see that they are Focker wolfs,I think they have tried to shoot up a train that was passing on the line,or the house where the army are billeted.I wonder if my Dad and Mum are O K.then there is one great big explosion just up the road,and a big cloud of smoke.and bits and pieces of wood and bricks from a house comming down.all about us.
Bomb Alley Kid 2011
Title plate created by Ronnie B Goodwin
Friday, 22 October 2010
Monday, 18 October 2010
Part 7
The war has being going on now for some time,and the siren never seeming to give out the all clear and so we tend to sleep down the shelter more often,and when we go to school we seem to spend more time in the brick shelters than in the clasrooms,we play more games in the shelters, more than doing school work,thats if we manage to get to school in the first place without an air raid siren giving out a raid warning,if we are nearer the school we go to the school but it we are nearer to our homes, then we can go home again,we seem to go home more times than school, many of my friends dads have had letters telling them to register for the forces,so they can be called up at any time,my Dad has to register with the other Dads and I do hope he will not be called up,and have to go away.Raymond the boy next door has also had to register as well,and he hopes he can get into the R A F,These days we seem to watch a lot of fights between the R A F and the German air force these are called dog fights,most of these dog fights are between Spitfires and Messersmitts, and if a spitfire or hurrican pilot shoots down
German he will do a low lever barrel roll over the fields, and you can even see the pilot in the cockpit and very often we can wave to him,and sometimes he will come back over and he will sort of wiggle his wings as if to wave back or at least to say he saw us wave to him,then he will go back up into the fight,but perhaps this time he will be shot down and killed who knows ? of course to us lads this is all very exciting, and we would all like to up there shooting down the Germans.
The war has being going on now for some time,and the siren never seeming to give out the all clear and so we tend to sleep down the shelter more often,and when we go to school we seem to spend more time in the brick shelters than in the clasrooms,we play more games in the shelters, more than doing school work,thats if we manage to get to school in the first place without an air raid siren giving out a raid warning,if we are nearer the school we go to the school but it we are nearer to our homes, then we can go home again,we seem to go home more times than school, many of my friends dads have had letters telling them to register for the forces,so they can be called up at any time,my Dad has to register with the other Dads and I do hope he will not be called up,and have to go away.Raymond the boy next door has also had to register as well,and he hopes he can get into the R A F,These days we seem to watch a lot of fights between the R A F and the German air force these are called dog fights,most of these dog fights are between Spitfires and Messersmitts, and if a spitfire or hurrican pilot shoots down
German he will do a low lever barrel roll over the fields, and you can even see the pilot in the cockpit and very often we can wave to him,and sometimes he will come back over and he will sort of wiggle his wings as if to wave back or at least to say he saw us wave to him,then he will go back up into the fight,but perhaps this time he will be shot down and killed who knows ? of course to us lads this is all very exciting, and we would all like to up there shooting down the Germans.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
bomb alley kid page 6
Bomb Alley Kid No page 6
Whilst we live in Wales Mum and I start to use the local trains to visit other parts of Wales.such as Colwyn Bay, Llanduno,Porthmadog,sometime we take Gorden and his britherAlunwho are now good mates of mine and of my Mum,I have even had tea with themand they with me, we also go the the pictures { Movies } but I am not really excepted by the majority of the other Welsh kids,but who cares they are not worth bothering about anyway, or the teacher, who still tends to ignore me, and just speaks in Welsh, so I am not being tought very much,except that the Welsh dont like the English very much but I think they are ignorant people and live in the past.My Dad has written to say he may be able to come up and see us in a few days time as he has some leave to come,this good and I cant wait to see him,then on one Friday evening there is a knock on the door just as we are getting ready for bed,the lady that we stay with answers it,then runs up the stairs to tell mum there is a man who wishes to see her,Mum new all along that it would be dad, but had not said anything to me so that it would be a lovely supprise,I can hear someone comming up the stairs and I just think this is Mum returning to our room,but when the door opens to our room its my Dad who comes through,I cant believe it and throw my armes around him and give him a big big hug and start to cry because I am so happy to see him after all this time, also my Dad is nearly crying as well,it is a very emotional time for us all.Dad has two suitcases with him and asks me to start opening one of them to unpack it,as I start to unpack it I find under some of the clothes there is a wooden box about eighteen inchs square,and six inches deep I ask dad what itis and he says to open,so I take off the lid and when i do I find there are lots of toy soldiers for me to play with,then under a layer of cotton wool there is a scale model of a Sunderland Flyingboat all opainted silver and with the roundels of the R A F on it.that Dad has made for me,and he says it is made from Bolsawood that they use in the factory when they make a mock up the real piece that they want made for some part of the plane or to alter a piece before moulding it in Aluminium.he has also put the date on it like a registration No.1944.under more cotton wool there is another model plane this is of a spitfire, and also an American mustang fighter plane, all the aircraft have ben made to scale from plans.that Dad has,I really cant find words to thank him so very much he just says it to thank me for looking after Mum, and helping her while we have been apart.thats tipical of my dad he would find something like that to say because thats my dad.he rally is a great dad and he still found time to make these thing for me even thogh he must have very busy delivering the parts for the real planes,I shall always treasure these all of my life { I still have these even now } I wont play with these because I may break some parts off them if I do, so will keep them as display models while Dad is her with us we go for walks, and play bowles on the local bowling green,which makes the centre of the Square where we stay.at No. fifteenthe square.Bleanau Ffestinog. We also go to that cinema shed,I tell Dad how they seem to hate the English up here,and that I only have two friends Gorden and Allun,I tell him that even the teacher only speaks Welsh although she can speak english, so dad says not tolet it bother me because he thinks the war will not last verymuch longer.as the American and British troops are taking more and more ground in france everyday,so the news is good and so just stick it out for a little while longer,and we will be able to come home,also they are re-building our house back home.but dads leave is comming to an end and he will have to return back to Chatham and his job.with Short Brothers.How I wish Mum and iI could go with him, and leave this place.next day Mum and I help dad to pack the cases again, to be readyto catch the train tomorrow morning and I hear my Dad say to Mum while we are having our tea,that the Germans have a new kind of bomb which we call a V. I. rocket which is packed with high explosives and are being fired off towards London,the trouble with these things is one nver knows where or when they are going to come down,so you have now warning they are coming they are launched up into the air to agreat hight ,and so cant be detected by radar,and planes cant catch them because no one knows where they are or when they are on their way.
In the morning we walk Dad to the station with sadness as we shall miss him so very much it has been great to have him with us again, even if it was a very short visit.Mum and I cant help but to cry as we wave goodbye to Dad as the train pulls out of the station,once the train is out of site we walk slowly back to our room.\mum says that come to-morrow we will take a train to the seaside,and take Gorden an Allun with us.after this day,and ariveing back after our day outI look at my Soldiers and the three planes that dad made for me and again I cant help but start to cry myself to sleep thinking of my dad, and how happy we all were being together again.next morning I ask Gordens Mum if he and Allun can come with Mum and I as we are going to Porthmadog and the sea,she says yes, so we spend the day playing on the beach and walking around the town looking in the shops.and having tea, then we have to catch the train back to Bleanau.On the radio the news is good because we are still pushing the German army back in France,Mum aranges another train trip for us to-morrow to a town called Colwyn Bay another seaside town Gorden and Allun come with us again and we have a nice day out once again We decide to go fishing in the river near where we stay and catch some little stickle backs and put them into a jarwhich I take back to our room and put them next to my planes on the sideboard,tomooow will try to draw one of the mountains called Moelwyn Mawr { meaning big } and the other one called Moelwyn Bach, { meaning Small }so this i do and draw in my book that I bought in Porthmafog { and I still have these to-day }
Whilst we live in Wales Mum and I start to use the local trains to visit other parts of Wales.such as Colwyn Bay, Llanduno,Porthmadog,sometime we take Gorden and his britherAlunwho are now good mates of mine and of my Mum,I have even had tea with themand they with me, we also go the the pictures { Movies } but I am not really excepted by the majority of the other Welsh kids,but who cares they are not worth bothering about anyway, or the teacher, who still tends to ignore me, and just speaks in Welsh, so I am not being tought very much,except that the Welsh dont like the English very much but I think they are ignorant people and live in the past.My Dad has written to say he may be able to come up and see us in a few days time as he has some leave to come,this good and I cant wait to see him,then on one Friday evening there is a knock on the door just as we are getting ready for bed,the lady that we stay with answers it,then runs up the stairs to tell mum there is a man who wishes to see her,Mum new all along that it would be dad, but had not said anything to me so that it would be a lovely supprise,I can hear someone comming up the stairs and I just think this is Mum returning to our room,but when the door opens to our room its my Dad who comes through,I cant believe it and throw my armes around him and give him a big big hug and start to cry because I am so happy to see him after all this time, also my Dad is nearly crying as well,it is a very emotional time for us all.Dad has two suitcases with him and asks me to start opening one of them to unpack it,as I start to unpack it I find under some of the clothes there is a wooden box about eighteen inchs square,and six inches deep I ask dad what itis and he says to open,so I take off the lid and when i do I find there are lots of toy soldiers for me to play with,then under a layer of cotton wool there is a scale model of a Sunderland Flyingboat all opainted silver and with the roundels of the R A F on it.that Dad has made for me,and he says it is made from Bolsawood that they use in the factory when they make a mock up the real piece that they want made for some part of the plane or to alter a piece before moulding it in Aluminium.he has also put the date on it like a registration No.1944.under more cotton wool there is another model plane this is of a spitfire, and also an American mustang fighter plane, all the aircraft have ben made to scale from plans.that Dad has,I really cant find words to thank him so very much he just says it to thank me for looking after Mum, and helping her while we have been apart.thats tipical of my dad he would find something like that to say because thats my dad.he rally is a great dad and he still found time to make these thing for me even thogh he must have very busy delivering the parts for the real planes,I shall always treasure these all of my life { I still have these even now } I wont play with these because I may break some parts off them if I do, so will keep them as display models while Dad is her with us we go for walks, and play bowles on the local bowling green,which makes the centre of the Square where we stay.at No. fifteenthe square.Bleanau Ffestinog. We also go to that cinema shed,I tell Dad how they seem to hate the English up here,and that I only have two friends Gorden and Allun,I tell him that even the teacher only speaks Welsh although she can speak english, so dad says not tolet it bother me because he thinks the war will not last verymuch longer.as the American and British troops are taking more and more ground in france everyday,so the news is good and so just stick it out for a little while longer,and we will be able to come home,also they are re-building our house back home.but dads leave is comming to an end and he will have to return back to Chatham and his job.with Short Brothers.How I wish Mum and iI could go with him, and leave this place.next day Mum and I help dad to pack the cases again, to be readyto catch the train tomorrow morning and I hear my Dad say to Mum while we are having our tea,that the Germans have a new kind of bomb which we call a V. I. rocket which is packed with high explosives and are being fired off towards London,the trouble with these things is one nver knows where or when they are going to come down,so you have now warning they are coming they are launched up into the air to agreat hight ,and so cant be detected by radar,and planes cant catch them because no one knows where they are or when they are on their way.
In the morning we walk Dad to the station with sadness as we shall miss him so very much it has been great to have him with us again, even if it was a very short visit.Mum and I cant help but to cry as we wave goodbye to Dad as the train pulls out of the station,once the train is out of site we walk slowly back to our room.\mum says that come to-morrow we will take a train to the seaside,and take Gorden an Allun with us.after this day,and ariveing back after our day outI look at my Soldiers and the three planes that dad made for me and again I cant help but start to cry myself to sleep thinking of my dad, and how happy we all were being together again.next morning I ask Gordens Mum if he and Allun can come with Mum and I as we are going to Porthmadog and the sea,she says yes, so we spend the day playing on the beach and walking around the town looking in the shops.and having tea, then we have to catch the train back to Bleanau.On the radio the news is good because we are still pushing the German army back in France,Mum aranges another train trip for us to-morrow to a town called Colwyn Bay another seaside town Gorden and Allun come with us again and we have a nice day out once again We decide to go fishing in the river near where we stay and catch some little stickle backs and put them into a jarwhich I take back to our room and put them next to my planes on the sideboard,tomooow will try to draw one of the mountains called Moelwyn Mawr { meaning big } and the other one called Moelwyn Bach, { meaning Small }so this i do and draw in my book that I bought in Porthmafog { and I still have these to-day }
Bomb Alley page 5
continuation of my life NO 5
We now have builders in and around our school,and they are erecting brick shelters that we shall use if there is an air raid whilst we are at scool,and we have been told that we will be giong to the village hall in sturry to be given gas masks,we have to go in order of where we live so me and my Mum Derek and Allen Jean and Pam Butler will walk down ours selves to get them together,the parents will also be issued with theirs at the same time.when we ariv e at the hall we take ourplaces on benches around the room,and a man shows us what the gas masks look like,there are ones for the very young babies,others are for profesional people like Air Raid Wardens and fire men, and of course the police,the one for the little babies are coloured red ,and have a big clear plasict face so that the mothers will be able to keep watch on them,and so that the babies can see their mums,they also hav a big rubber flat nose so they can breath out easier than ours,because our are the normal grey rubber ones,with a metal filter on the bottom of them,eventualya man come sto me and ask me to my chin into the lower part and pull the rubber straps over my head then he ajusts these to suit me,he then say to breath naturaly,when I breath out the rubber around my cheeks makes a flaping sound.which makes me laugh,as it sounds like Brrr Brrr Brrr sound,everyone sees this as a something funny and we all laugh,once we are all fitted with our masks and all are sattisfied with them we are given a cardboard box to keep them in,and this box has a piece of string which we can put over our shoulders to carry them,we are told that we must carry them everywhere we go.when I get home mum and I show Dad our little masks, he has a supprise to show us the one he has been issued with and its one of the profesional ones his mask is in a canvas bag which is on his chest his mask has two big round eyes glasses and a curragated rubber hose which goes into the bag on his chest for breathing,this is a profesional mask unlike my Mums and mine. Dad says he has joined the auxiliary fire service as a driver for the little fire engine car,that will be used for small fire fighting jobs,leaving the profesionals to deal with any large fires, the car that Dad and his other fellow fire fighters have is just a private car with a tow ball that can take a trailer with a large barrell of water, this has a motorised pump attached, but they also have a smaller pump which is known as a stirrup pump,this is one which normaly would be used to pump up your tyres on a car,it has two small flaps which you open out from the bottom of the pump so that you can put your feet on to, to hold it down when you raise the handle to suck up water from a small bucket or something,then as you push the handle down the water is forced out through the hose attached to the little pump.they also have ladders which are carried on the car roof,some of the other Dads have joined the A R P or the home gaurd known as { Dads Army }so must men have joined something or other to help out in an emergency,
We are issued with sticky tape which we must put on the glass windows of our houses this should prevent the glass flying about should there be a bomb explodeing near by.causing the window to be broken.also we have have very heavy curtains to put up at the windows to help keep any light from being seen from outside.of course there are no street lights now, and cars have very small slits in a mask to stop the light from being too bright and showing up from the air.but no one is allowed to use their cars now anyway except if you are a Doctor or police.
more later.at some time.
. ,
We now have builders in and around our school,and they are erecting brick shelters that we shall use if there is an air raid whilst we are at scool,and we have been told that we will be giong to the village hall in sturry to be given gas masks,we have to go in order of where we live so me and my Mum Derek and Allen Jean and Pam Butler will walk down ours selves to get them together,the parents will also be issued with theirs at the same time.when we ariv e at the hall we take ourplaces on benches around the room,and a man shows us what the gas masks look like,there are ones for the very young babies,others are for profesional people like Air Raid Wardens and fire men, and of course the police,the one for the little babies are coloured red ,and have a big clear plasict face so that the mothers will be able to keep watch on them,and so that the babies can see their mums,they also hav a big rubber flat nose so they can breath out easier than ours,because our are the normal grey rubber ones,with a metal filter on the bottom of them,eventualya man come sto me and ask me to my chin into the lower part and pull the rubber straps over my head then he ajusts these to suit me,he then say to breath naturaly,when I breath out the rubber around my cheeks makes a flaping sound.which makes me laugh,as it sounds like Brrr Brrr Brrr sound,everyone sees this as a something funny and we all laugh,once we are all fitted with our masks and all are sattisfied with them we are given a cardboard box to keep them in,and this box has a piece of string which we can put over our shoulders to carry them,we are told that we must carry them everywhere we go.when I get home mum and I show Dad our little masks, he has a supprise to show us the one he has been issued with and its one of the profesional ones his mask is in a canvas bag which is on his chest his mask has two big round eyes glasses and a curragated rubber hose which goes into the bag on his chest for breathing,this is a profesional mask unlike my Mums and mine. Dad says he has joined the auxiliary fire service as a driver for the little fire engine car,that will be used for small fire fighting jobs,leaving the profesionals to deal with any large fires, the car that Dad and his other fellow fire fighters have is just a private car with a tow ball that can take a trailer with a large barrell of water, this has a motorised pump attached, but they also have a smaller pump which is known as a stirrup pump,this is one which normaly would be used to pump up your tyres on a car,it has two small flaps which you open out from the bottom of the pump so that you can put your feet on to, to hold it down when you raise the handle to suck up water from a small bucket or something,then as you push the handle down the water is forced out through the hose attached to the little pump.they also have ladders which are carried on the car roof,some of the other Dads have joined the A R P or the home gaurd known as { Dads Army }so must men have joined something or other to help out in an emergency,
We are issued with sticky tape which we must put on the glass windows of our houses this should prevent the glass flying about should there be a bomb explodeing near by.causing the window to be broken.also we have have very heavy curtains to put up at the windows to help keep any light from being seen from outside.of course there are no street lights now, and cars have very small slits in a mask to stop the light from being too bright and showing up from the air.but no one is allowed to use their cars now anyway except if you are a Doctor or police.
more later.at some time.
. ,
Sunday, 3 October 2010
bomb alley kid page 4
,so I think if this is war then its not too bad so not to worry,and quite exciting.
When I come home from school one day there are some metal sheet in the garden,all the houses seem to have them,my Dad say they are Anderson shelters, and we will have to bolt them together and put them in the garden,Dad say we will dig a big hole and put them into that, and cover them with the soil we have dug out,so that it will be under ground,as this will give us more protection should a bomb land near by, other people assemble them in their back gardens and cover them with sand bags,but these are above ground,My Dad has dug steps out so that we can go down into the shelter,and open the door into the shelter,,also he has made bunk beds for us to sleep on should we have to stay in the shelter over night.Mum also has blankets which we can take down,Dad also makes a door that we lift up to gain access to the steps, and which will help to stop any light being seen,from above. we have tilly lanterns for light in the shelter so its quite cosy down there,so we kids use the shelter as a headquarters when we play at soldiers,I guess this is a rouse that Mum and Dad use to get us all used to staying in the shelter,
When I come home from school one day there are some metal sheet in the garden,all the houses seem to have them,my Dad say they are Anderson shelters, and we will have to bolt them together and put them in the garden,Dad say we will dig a big hole and put them into that, and cover them with the soil we have dug out,so that it will be under ground,as this will give us more protection should a bomb land near by, other people assemble them in their back gardens and cover them with sand bags,but these are above ground,My Dad has dug steps out so that we can go down into the shelter,and open the door into the shelter,,also he has made bunk beds for us to sleep on should we have to stay in the shelter over night.Mum also has blankets which we can take down,Dad also makes a door that we lift up to gain access to the steps, and which will help to stop any light being seen,from above. we have tilly lanterns for light in the shelter so its quite cosy down there,so we kids use the shelter as a headquarters when we play at soldiers,I guess this is a rouse that Mum and Dad use to get us all used to staying in the shelter,
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