Derbyshire

A Badge for Volunteering: A Miner Turned Down by the RAF

My brother Jack Allard was in the home guard, nearby we had a prisoner of war camp, one of the prisoners...

Potato Picking

Towards the end of the war, the German and Italian POWs were allowed out under escort to work on the local...

A Holbrook Girl in Derby

I grew up in Holbrook a small village in Derbyshire, with my mother and father, Edwin and Eliza Carrington...

The Bombing: Derby, January 15th 1941

As my father looked up into the sky he saw what he thought looked like 'lit electric bulbs' seconds...

A Few Wartime Recollections.

One of them went into the army. he was sent to Dunkirk, to take part in the landings but was injured before...

Gas Masks with Everything

Not long after, I remember being at work at Halls factory in Canada Street Belper... I remember one girl...

Fresh Raspberries and Cream

The pupils of St St James Church School in Derby were evacuated to Chellaston - three miles away... Our...

Medal Winner!

Following the end of the War in Europe, I was notified by the Ministry of Aircraft production in June 1945...

Memories of WW2 in Derby

Derby Co-op had a lot of grocery branches at that time and had an office specially to deal with food...

At Home

WW2 I was just a little boy with my new born sister, saw my Dad leave for India in 1941 not to...

No Body to bury

Albert lived on Tank Street at Riddings in Derbyshire with his mum and dad, Sarah and Fred Hibbert... The...

My Start To The War

I lived with my Grandmother, Emily Long and Parents, Bernard and Doris Goodall in Ebenezer Street for about...

"Hitler"

My neighbour, Bert, a grown up of eleven years old who was giving me a donkey ride at the time, was...

Shed Load and Fun for the Children

Dried peas, porridge oats, eggs, chocolate, tins of fruit, flour had all shed all over the road. We turned...

Civilian Casualties at Rolls Royce and Awsworth Viaduct

On another trip to the hospital I noticed that there were stretchers everywhere with people covered in...

No Miners in the Navy

Leslie was a miner throughout the war but had originally tried to join the navy, he went into Nottingham to...

" You Can Call Me Aunty"

On returning from a trip to Blackpool with my late husband going through Machester train station I clearly...

Life At Alfreton Hall

I am one of four sisters who worked at Alfreton Hall, the home of the Squire of Alfreton, Mr. Palmer...

Life in Ironville during the War

I lived on King William Street with my parents Samuel and Edith Jones, sisters Beatrice, Alice, Phyllis and...

Derby Visited by King and Queen

Gwyneth Kelly These memories told to Jo Taylor of the Holmewood and Heath CAP team, and added to the site...

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

I bred rabbits ... in a chicken coup ... basically as pets, but as rationing took place they became food......

Hero?

I was evacuated at 11 years old and was lucky to find a lovely home in the above village — still in...

The Air Raid Shelter in the Garden

When war was declared, Dad dug up half the lawn in our back garden and made an air-raid shelter... Memories...

Mixed Experience of Evacuation

In 1940 during the Blitz I stayed for six months with Mr and Mrs. Mannings who had a bakery in Lentisbeare...

Going into Hospital

Children's hospitals, although separate, were organised on adult lines. Children who were upset were...

Osmaston Manor, Red Cross Hospital

Early on in the War, Osmaston Manor, the then home of Sir Ian and Lady Walker-Okeover, was turned into a...