Ron Levett's memories, from the early 1930's, when he lived in the small village of Alfriston in Sussex

In the early stages of the war, we had Royal Engineers stationed in the village. They had a unique method of fishing in the river. They would take a block of guncotton, fit the primer and detonator and then connect it to a length of wire and an electric firing mechanism. They had a boat in the river with a couple of men in it.

The men on the bank would then throw the explosive into the river and just as it hit the water, they fired the charge. This stunned the fish in quite a large circle and they floated to the surface. The boat crew had to collect the fish before they regained consciousness.

A First Aid Party was formed as part of the Air Raid Precautions (ARP). Both Stanley and I joined as messenger boys and were issued with an armband and a blue steel helmet, with ARP in white letters on the front. We were quite proud of our 'uniform'.

The leader of the party was my great uncle Mr. Walter Comfort. The remainder of the party consisted of Miss. Buckland, who later became Mrs. Harry Marchant and was the telephonist, Mrs. Walter Comfort, plus the chauffeur/gardener at Deans Place.

We did our night duties in the loft over the garage at Deans Place, where the hotel staff quarters are now. We were never called out during my time with the ARP.

After the Dunkirk evacuation, the war took on a much more serious tone. Our Engineers left, to be replaced by a battery of 2pdr anti-tank guns of the Royal Canadian Artillery. This was a portee battery where the guns were carried in the back of 15cwt Chevrolet trucks.

Their garage and mess hall was situated in what is now Alfriston Motors garage. We soon discovered the delights of Canadian bacon with maple syrup, Sweet Caporal cigarettes and many other Canadian goodies.

The threat of invasion seemed quite real at the time and we noticed a lot of precautions being taken. Rows of 'Dragons Teeth' anti-tank obstacles were installed between the corner at Wingrove and the riverbank. If you look over the garden wall at Deans Place Hotel you can still see them.

A number of temporary obstacles consisting of a cone of concrete, made with a hole in the centre, were placed across the road at Wingrove corner, with a steel pipe running down through the hole in the concrete and into a hole in the road. The remainder of these cones can be seen lining the perimeter of what is now the Recreation ground.

A pipe was laid down the side of the road at West Hill. This would be used to pump flaming petrol across the road to catch enemy troops as they came up the road. There were trenches dug at the top of the field above the Manse, with machine guns installed to cover the road all the way to Winton Street.

A road was built to the right of the chalk pit above Winton Street to enable tanks and trucks to reach the top of the hill quickly, in case paratroops landed on the hill.

An Anti-aircraft post was built on the riverbank near Longbridge. The armament consisted of an air-cooled Lewis gun of 1917 vintage. We lads helped fill the magazines for the gun's .303 cartridges.

At about this time a battery of 8' howitzers were moved into Winton Street and were dug into sand bagged emplacements. One was in the grounds of the house called the Sanctuary and one halfway down Winton Street. Their towing vehicles were Scammel Pioneers.

These were huge vehicles with all round independent suspension, which looked very impressive driving across the undulating ground near the chalk pit. When the guns were going to fire a practice shoot, the village were warned the day before so that people could open their windows.

One day we heard that an E-boat, a German torpedo boat, had been spotted in the Channel, and the guns opened fire without warning. I don't know how many windows were broken but I believe the local builder was kept busy in the following days replacing broken windows.

The Canadian Army established an artillery range at Alfriston. The firing points were on Windover Hill to the east of the village, and the fall of shot on the other side of the village, to the west. As far as I know there was only one shell that fell short which killed a pig in Harmer's farm!

The Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) formed at this time. My father and Freddie (my granddad) went round to the police house, which was the signing on point but granddad was found to be not fit enough. He suffered from arthritis, and had to give up work before the war because of this condition.

I was too young at the time to join the LDV. Mum joined the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) as a telephonist, while Kate stopped at home to look after my sister Betty.

Kate had been courting Ern Moore, from Alciston, for quite a long time and they decided to get married. My sister Betty and cousin Shirley acted as bridesmaids, and my mother was matron of honour.

Shirley was Uncle Arthur's daughter. I can only assume that they had evacuated themselves on us because their home was in Dover, which was being shelled regularly across the Channel.

Ern was working, along with my father, as a charcoal burner in Abbotts Wood at Arlington. This was a reserved occupation, probably because charcoal was used in explosives and for gas mask filters. Ern also joined the AFS as a part-time fireman. The Fire Station was located in what had been the Youth Club building at the bottom of White Lodge grounds. This is now a bungalow owned by Miss Turner.

For this wedding I had to have a grown-up suit. Jacket, waistcoat and my first long trousers. I wore a shirt with a separate collar, needing both back and front studs. I wore short socks with suspenders, as elastic top socks had not been invented.

Ron Levett, 2001