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Don McDouall was evacuated from London during World War II when he was five years old. He was sent to the small country village of East Hanney to live with Grans and Grampy at a house called Tamarisk. He now lives in Australia.
Grans house, in East Hanney, was called 'Tamarisk'. Such an exotic house name came from the Tamarisk tree in the back garden. The house itself was probably built around 1840 making it about one hundred years old at the time the war was on and when I was living there. It was mainly built of dark red and brown bricks. Some bricks having been adorned with a mauve glaze.
The roof was dotted all over with chimneys. These were topped off with dull orange ceramic chimney pots, some of which were perched at distinctly crazy angles. I was sure they had to be homes to a multitude of ghouls, goblins or similar nasties.
The house faced on to the road in a line with the neighbouring terraced houses. The windows, all through the war years, had strips of yellowing paper stuck to them from the inside. This was to combat the chances of flying glass causing untold damage to life and limb, in the event of a 'Jerry' bomb blast.
A wrought iron gate and a wrought iron fence surrounded the front garden. Grans was always going on as to what she would do to anyone removing these wrought iron 'front pieces', as early in the war years there was much talk that everybody's iron fences were being commandeered for the war effort, perhaps to end up as bombs!
Grans rented her house from the old Mr White for ten shillings and sixpence a week. Old man White came to the house every Monday morning at eight am sharp to collect the money.
Inside, the stairs led upwards to a large landing this was where Roy and I slept, right throughout the period of the war. The iron-framed bed was pushed hard up under the slanting ceiling. We slept on the landing at the top of the stairs. Our old double bed was pushed up tight against the wall under the low slanting ceiling.
On reaching the bed, Roy and I would argue as to who was going to look under the bed! We were terrified of what might be there and would hurriedly try to beat the other one into bed and once in bed we would hide under the bedclothes shivering with fright!
A large black painted cupboard stood just inside Grans bedroom door. This cupboard was always kept locked up and contained foodstuffs that Grans didn't want the Roy and me to eat.
What the mean old Grans didn't know was that Roy and I knew where she kept the one and only key. So when Grans was busy playing cards downstairs, Roy would keep watch while I raided the cupboard to pinch such things as raisins, sultanas and the like. Then there was the Brandy bottle that each boy sipped from and then topped up with water afterwards!
Tamarisk had four rooms downstairs. Two front rooms, one called 'The little room' and the other room was named 'The long room'. Both rooms were very well furnished.
Roy and I were never allowed in these two rooms, except to clean and dust them about once a week, except perhaps at Christmas time. I would hurry along with the dusting and sweeping so I had enough time to peruse the contents of most of the books on the shelves. By the time I was eight I was an avid reader of anything I could get my hands on. I just loved reading.
The room we lived in most of the time was the kitchen. It contained a cast iron kitchen range that sat inside the chimney place. The stove was surrounded at its base by a low fender of polished steel. I use to black lead the stove every morning before going to school and used emery cloth to shine the fender. It was one of my never-ending chores.
In the center of the kitchen was a heavy table with six wooden chairs around it. There were two simply carved wooden chairs that were placed on either side of the fireplace. One was Grans, the other Gramps.
To one side of the stove there was a built in cupboard referred to as the pantry that held the foodstuff used for day to day living. On the other side of the stove was a small hideaway that led into the chimney place. Here the sides of bacon and the legs of ham were hung up in the smoke of the fire. Many beetles lived here and they would invade the legs of Ham and the sides of bacon, boring small holes right throughout the meat.
There was a tiny old stuffed sofa behind Gramps chair. This was my favourite place, as I could get up in the corner behind Grampy near the fire, keeping out of Grans way and at the same time get to be warm.
At the foot of the sofa stood a heavy looking chest of draws. On the top of the chest sat the large wooden cased wireless. Complete with its batteries in a seperate case. The wireless had a fret-worked front with Bakerlite knobs with a small light, so you could see which station you were tuned into.
The machine was powered by two separate batteries. There was a large and heavy multi-cell dry battery that lasted about three months. The other source of power was a wet battery or accumulator, the case of which was made from glass. Attached to the top was a metal carrying handle. The wet battery would power the wireless for about a week then it would have to be recharged.
Tony Bookers father had the village battery charger in his garden shed and Roy or I would take the flat battery to him every Friday after school. He charged sixpence for the recharge.
Popular radio programs at the time were shows like 'Workers Playtime' and 'Old mother Riley'. Personalities like Arther Askey, George Formby, Sandy Powell, Gracie Fields and Vera Lyn were much to the fore. Later came radio shows like 'Paul Temple' and 'Hancocks Half Hour'. After the war all kids scurried home to listen to 'Dick Barton' special agent.
At the foot of the stairs stood a round stone box. This extremely heavy receptacle was where the bread was kept and also the milk in the summertime. Nearby stood a tall Grandfather clock with a painted rural scene on its face. It always told the same time, as it hadn't worked since it fell on its face after a bomb blast.
All the lighting within the house during the war was by way of paraffin lamps and candles. To move around the house after dark candles in candlesticks were used or you just felt your way. Each morning the lamp glasses had to be cleaned, the wicks trimmed and the paraffin replenished.
The other room downstairs was the scullery. It was an exceedingly small room. It contained an enormous cupboard, its size dominating the room. The cupboard was where the vegetables and eggs etc were stored and many packets of dried American egg powder was stashed away there too.
In the centre of the room was a narrow table that Roy and I always ate our meals at when Grans had visitors. It was also the place that I was so often banished to when I wouldn't eat my vegetables! I hated cooked vegetables, all of them except potatoes.
My pet hates parsnips, mushy marrow, smelly brussel sprouts and yucky turnip and swede. Grans would hold me down and force handfuls of mushy marrow or lumps of sickly parsnip into my mouth. I would retch and choke causing some of it to go the wrong way, some even coming back out of my nose!
I may have been small, and at the time very afraid of Grans, but I was also very stubborn. Even after many hidings I would still not eat my vegetables. I would be banished to sit alone in the cold and I would sit there for many hours at a time. I had tried filling my pockets with the vegetable to hide them but always got found out. The cat wouldn't eat it either! So I would just sit there and wait until it was bedtime.
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