St Helier Hospital I recall being opened by the king & queen in 1938, and being chased by a soldier because we crossed the road where we shouldn't have been!

At the beginning of the war, the hospital was still painted white! The story was that Lord Haw Haw, the American/Irish collaborator, in one of his broadcasts, apparently said '..thankyou to the people of Carshalton for painting their hospital so white, we shall be able to find it very easy..'

Almost immediately, workmen began painting camouflage all over it!
There used to be a bungalow just inside the main gate and to the right, I suppose it housed some members of staff. It received a direct hit during a raid and was demolished.

We went over to the hospital to watch the wardens clearing the debris. I do remember one of the casualties was a baby.

I can recall going out for the day to Epsom Downs with my youngest sister, it must have been 1945 or thereabouts. It's amazing to think that we could go off on our own in those days but our mum used to work in a munitions factory, which had been a toy factory before the war. Anyway, we went off on this picnic.

Suddenly a whole bunch of German P.O.W.'s came along with only one guard, they were friendly and called to us and waved, we waved back. I remember we were not frightened of them. P.O.W.'s were used to build the pre-fab houses just over the road from our school, and we often went over there to watch.

The V1 (Doodlebug)

The V1, or Doodlebug as the public knew it, was a devastating weapon. The horrible drone was unmistakable. No-one would speak as it droned nearer and nearer. Then the sound would stop. You waited, not knowing whether it was coming straight down on you or not. Then came the explosion, which meant that some poor buggars had copped it, and with it came the relief that you were alright.

Croydon, which was a few miles south of Rosehill, had a larger number of V1's hit them than any other London Borough! We were in a direct line between Croydon and London and just half of those launched each day reached London, the rest fell elsewhere.

One nearly hit our house. It was a very narrow escape. Whether it was aimed at the hospital or not I don't know, but it nearly took a direct hit as it was coming down so very close to it. The V1 then hit some power cables, causing it to fall short onto some houses in Robertsbridge Road.

The next street to us also received a direct hit, demolishing two or three houses. We only had blast damage, plaster and windows, etc so we were very lucky. Also we had a brick shelter in our back garden, neighbours on one side had an Anderson shelter so I don't know how it was decided what type you were given. I believe the shelter is still there.

One vivid memory I have is of one evening, I don't know which year; it was early evening when we heard the throbbing of aircraft. We all rushed upstairs to look out of the rear bedroom window and up at the sky. We were amazed at the sight of hundreds of aircraft flying over us in formation towards the continent.

Wave after wave passed over; I forget how long we watched but it seemed endless, we were cheering and waving. Obviously they couldn't see us but what the hell! They were ours on the way to Germany to give them some of what we had had for the past few years.