A school girl growing up in the war

Scene: Morning at a school in Ilford, London.

Head teacher: "Rosemary Williams you are half an hour late. That is not acceptable."
Rosemary: "But we are allowed to be half an hour late if there was an air raid."
Headteacher: "There was not an air raid over Ilford last night."
Rosemary: "The siren went at Woodford, where I live."

Note: this was a problem when sirens did or did not go off in different localities. Students were expected to get to school the next day but were allowed to be half an hour late if there had been an air raid.

At another time in the war Rosemary was an evacuee down in Devon where she loved being on a farm and riding horses. However she had to return to London to do her matric (Matriculation exam for leaving school). She then did TB nursing somewhere on the Suffolk coast.