Joan Bedingham's Memories of Worthing and London

This is my object which I found when my mother died. I made it when I was an evacuee. I lived in London Bermondsey which was a sort of slum area in those days. My brother became the chairman of the Rotary club at Hove and they used to have talks and one of their members interviewed him. I have a scan that I brought along.

I shall be 90 years old in 10 days time. I was 5 nearly 6 when we came to Worthing. My mother kept this item which really affects me. Imagine a mother putting her children on a bus and not knowing where they are going. I remember all the gear I was carrying.

Dominion road is just down the road!

When France fell, my mother took us back to London - just in time for the Blitz! My mum and Gran never used the shelter. After a while we didn't go down there as it was damp. Eventually that stopped and we went to the top of the house. My mum thought if the house would be hit, the top floor would be safest. I can't imagine what she went through.

I have brought along a flowerpot holder which I handmade when I was 6 at Dominion Road School. The base must have been provided and we just wove it in and out. She kept it all those years. 50 odd years. She kept it.

There is a scan of our London house - you can see where we used to sleep - up there.

Bermondsey was full of factories. It was badly bombed. It smelt awful. We weren't actually bombed but there was damage - we survived.

I came back to Worthing by coincidence. I have a friend who lived in Findon - she asked if we would dog sit and house sit. It was beautiful. We did it a second time and it rained. We went to have a look at a new building in Broadwater and we came and I fell in love with the flat. My husband loved it too. We put a deposit down. I hadn't worked out yet. There used to be a dairy where Travis Perkins used to be. When I was an evacuee I used to see all the bottles. As soon as I started to explore I knew that I had been here before - that was when I was evacuated!!