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War baby Mrs Jean Smith (nee Fraser), born in 1943 at 18 Solway Road, East Dulwich, recalls life as a small child in war-torn London.
My earliest days as a child I can remember playing on the large bombsite opposite where I lived. We used to collect the bricks from the site and build camps in the bushes where you could still see the old front paths and walls where the houses used to be.
My parents would warn me not to play on the sites, as they were dangerous.
On the corner of East Dulwich Road (opposite Peckham Rye) the pub called the Kings Arms had been bombed during the war and you could still go into the area, which was dangerous as the covers were still off the drains.
I can remember going there after warnings from my parents not too and I tore my coat in there so I had quite a lot of explaining to do !
The bomb site came in handy for Bonfire Night too, when, for many weeks beforehand, the whole street collected wood and old furniture, etc. We kept guard on it until the night in case children from other streets with bomb sites came to take it for their fires.
On the night itself everyone gathered on the site with their fireworks, we put the guy on top, and stood around with hot potatoes while chestnuts were roasting in the cinders. When our fire was out we then walked around other streets to see their bonfires.
Over on Peckham Rye they used to keep Italian prisoners-of-war, and I can remember seeing huts where they lived. Pigs were kept on the Rye but I'm still not sure why.
Most warm evenings were spent playing in the street, either with our roller skates or playing one of the many street games such as rounders.
We always finished the evening off with a bag of chips and a large pickled onion.
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