Past Times Project.co.uk - interacting with all aspects of Great Britain's past from around the world
Free
membership
 
Find past friends.|Lifestory library.|Find heritage visits.|Gene Junction.|Seeking companions.|Nostalgia knowledge.|Seeking lost persons.







Home <> Lifestory Library <> Explore By Location <> <> <> We Stood At The Front Door And Watched The Enemy Bombers




  Contributor: Fran AirsonView/Add comments



It was good to read some of the memories on your website, it brought back some happy and some sad times. When I was a child in Sunderland we lived by the docks. Life was very simple then and there was very little money but we were a close family and it did not seem important.

My name is Fran Airson, and I was born in Sunderland on the 13th of October 1937. We lived close to the river Wear where some of the finest ships were built, and I remember going with my mother and sister to watch the ships being launched, and how proud we all felt.

My father was in the army so we never saw him for months at a time. My sister and I used to wait for the postman to come to see if there was a letter from him.

During the war when bombers attacked us, we used to go to the air raid shelter at first, but my mother hated them, so we ended up standing at the front door watching the planes go overhead as they tried to bomb the docks. Being so young I never felt afraid because I was with my mother and I felt safe.

Rationing changed our way of life. Word used to get around very quickly when the sweet shop got their supplies in, and we would queue for what seemed like hours with our ration book clutched in our hands, and prayed they wouldn't sell out before they got to us.

When my father was demobbed after the war, everyone got together and there were great street parties. We were so happy to have our father home safe, and we were altogether as a family; it is something I will always remember.
View/Add comments






To add a comment you must first login or join for free, up in the top left corner.


Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Site map
Rob Blann | Worthing Dome Cinema