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Memories of Air Raids in South Wales

online resource
posted on 2024-06-05, 19:51 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

- Avril belongs to a Re-enactment Group.
- Lived in Rhonda Valley, South Wales.
- Used to see German planes fly over on the way to bomb Cardiff and Swansea.
- Was taken by her father to a neighbour's shelter. He took her outside to hear the sound of the bomber to learn what it sounded like for the future.
- Father was a policeman; he was sent to Cardiff to help clear up bomb damage. He came home in tears after witnessing the destruction and casualties.
- Remembers entertaining an American soldier at home. Mum was in tears because she had no food to offer to him; she had not filled out her ration book.
- All bicycles had to have a bell and a light.
- The family "air raid shelter" was the cupboard under the stairs.
- Despite everything, Christmas dinner was always a chicken through all the war years.
- Toilet paper was torn up newspaper. The best to use was the Radio Times because it tore easily into squares. The toilet was a shed at the bottom of the garden. "Ty Bach" is the Welsh for toilet. Used a chamber pot at night. Still has evacuee cases and bits.
- Her uncle was in ENSA.

History

Item list and details

Front and back pages of a "Yank" magazine dated 24 August 1945, celebrating Victory

Person the story/items relate to

Avril Brooks and her mother and father, William Henry?

Person who shared the story/items

Mrs Avril M Brooks

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

Mother and Father

Type of submission

Shared at Ahmadiyyah Mosque Hall, Warwickshire on 7 October 2023. The event was organised by Leamington History Group.

Record ID

94077 | LEA039