Growing Up in War-Torn Peterborough
I grew up in Peterborough, and was with my parents camping in Great Yarmouth on 3rd September 1939. I remember that our green tent was white, in the dark. At that age (5-10 years old), the war was the only life I knew.
Our school day started at 10 am instead of 9 am if sirens went during the night. The air raid shelter was in the infant school, just along the road. We had school Shelter Drills, just like Fire Drills, and we sang "Ten Green Bottles". There was a double shelter outside our shop, half on the pavement. The shelters were filled with bunk beds. There was no heating or lighting.
Peterborough was known as a"lucky city"! Apparently it was 'invisible' from the air, despite being 23 feet above sea-level with a Cathedral with tall steeples and a river, the Nene, leading inland. Nevertheless, three bombs were dropped by planes on their way back to Germany from Coventry, presumably to protect the crews. I remember the Doodlebugs, and also being at my grandparents' and seeing hundreds of planes flying over. The sky was dark with them. I wonder if it was the start of D-Day?
My father had a Newsagent's, so I could read every single comic- but I had to read them carefully because they had to go back on sale in the shop.
Everyone learned to knit and sew at school. We played Tin Can Tommy in the street. There were hardly any cars so we played in the road. A group of children, with ‘Tommy’ in the middle of the road. We had a tin can, and took it in turns to kick the can as far as we could and 'Tommy' had to chase after it.
My father brought home a whole hand of bananas before the war - the ultimate luxury! During the war, my mother preserved eggs in Isinglass, and she made coffee with Camp Coffee. She also salted and pickled vegetables for the winter. There were school lunches, and I used to eat one at school and then go home just along the road and eat another one!
When the shelters were knocked down, everyone gathered round to watch, mostly in the hope of finding all the tennis balls we had lost since they had been built.
