Bradford and West Yorkshire

War Time in Hospital

I still have a toy elephant made in felt by a war-wounded soldier, who was recovering from leg wounds....

Evacuee from Portsmouth

I came up to Dodworth as an evacuee from Kingston, Portsmouth with my sister Francesca. In the 1960’s...

Mytholmroyd Childhood

In Halifax we had evacuees, some were from London... We heard flying bombs towards the end of the war,some...

Home Guard and ARP Warden in Yorkshire

My Father had a butchers shop in Halifax Yorkshire and his brother also had a butchers shop... My Uncle,...

A Boyhood in Wartime England; Part 1

I had two sisters, Jean and Molly; Jean was eleven in 1939 and Molly was six and we all lived together on...

"I Can Never Remember Going To Infant School."

We used to make seaboot stockings, the ones that go all the way to the thighs, scarves, gloves, balaclavas...

War and Peace

I have vivid memories of how, during the bitter winter of 1946, German children would stand along the...

Assessments and Physical Training in the Army

When I was called up into the army the first town that I went to was OSSET in West Yorkshire and it...

A Boyhood in a Wartime England; Part 8

It was here, in a Sunday School class, before the theft, that I first came to meet John and Ernst, the...

And the band played on

In Jan 1940, I went to France and when the Germans invaded in 1940 I was in Belgium – Krombeke, about...

Evacuation Break Up: A Child in Bradford

In 1940, eggs, butter, sugar, meat, tea, jam, biscuits, cheese and milk started to get rationed but she can...

A Taste of Life in the Auxiliary Territorial Service

I was given three of every item of clothing, including khaki silk directoire knickers, known as...

Two Sisters Reminisce

He sent a reply that there was no need to apologise as "like the vicar who was given a cherry brandy,...

Bananas, Oranges & V.E. Day

My Name is Joyce Raper and in 1942 was a thirteen year old living in Sheriff Hill, a suburb of...

Rationing

You had coupons for things like butter, bacon, sugar, meat, jam and biscuits and tinned fruit. You could...

My Memories as a War Child

My father's sister and brother lived in Jersey during the occupation and I can remember them coming...

Memories collected from Bullenshaw Day Centre, Hemsworth, West Yorks

Madam Rosoval from America fetched wedding gowns... Wrote to him telling him that the washer had broken...

Crocodile Bags

Dad was called up by the Army and posted to Sierra Leone in West Africa as A Radio Operator in 1941 and...

POWS on the farm

Robert, the eldest, could say very little; Hans made up for his lack of English words with jolly gestures;...

The Munition Filling Station

I joined the munition filling station at Thorp Arch... The bombs were huge; the men who filled them had to...

Mrs B.P -Memories

Unfortunately he was a despatch rider and unfortunately he had an accident but it was a good job out of a...

With Thanks

I passed the day agonizing over the safety of my service friends; especially those of the Church Youth...

Wartime Conception

Not knowing she was pregnant, Mum joined the Land Army. She requested "Care of Livestock" but was...

Blackburn Avenue

When friends of Mum and Dad's , who we called Auntie Hilda and Uncle Sam from Bradford came to stay for...

MY MOTHER'S SHOP

My mother Florrie Gough ran a corner shop in Featherstone near Masham's Square which was named after...

Coded Kisses

My father John Hepworth of Thornbury, Bradford, served in the Royal Navy during World War 2. The landlady...