YVONNE

I was born in Hazel Grove, Stockport and was 3 years old when war broke out in 1939.

As a young child I never remember being frightened because when the siren when to signify an invasion.  I just went downstairs and lay between my parents under a table on bedding which was left there every day.

The nearest bombs to fall in Hazel Grove were on a golf links and on a house in Davenport (Kennerley Road). I was 9 years old when the war in Europe was over (8th May 1945) and that was my 9th birthday! So what a birthday party I had.

From 6 years old – 7 years old I was in an isolation hospital in Leasowe on the Wirral.  This was just across the Mersey from Liverpool which was being bombed regularly. Strangely, we liked it because the staff put us together in airing cupboards (about 3 of us in each cupboard) instead of being 3 or 4 feet away in a bed. My parents were only allowed to visit once a month and THAT was often cancelled. They came about 8 times in the 13 months I was there.

On 8th May 1945 there were street parties everywhere – ours was in Vine Street, Hazel Grove.  My only sibling, my brother, was born AFTER the war in 1948 when I was 12 years old.

My father had bad eyesight so I was fortunate that he was not sent away to war although he was in the home guard which meant he was out on evenings. His father, my Grandad, had served in the First World War and we were lucky because he came back home safely.