Dorset

Evacuation: From West London to Dorchester

We had no idea where we were going but our Head Mistress had a sealed envelope which contained the name of...

A WREN'S Christmas Memories

In 1942 I was a Wren stationed at R.N.A.S. Sandbanks, Dorset and billeted in The Red House, a lovely...

Childhood recollections

The thing I remember most is the noise as the naval base at Portland was bombed. One day I was in another...

Wartime Memories of Joan Thomas

Joan lived in Langton Matravers, near Swanage throughout the war years. Joan's father worked in the...

Beaminster During the War

We weren't affected badly by the bombing in Beaminster... A German plane came down the other side of...

Life as a young woman in Blandford

I worked for Blandford Forum Borough Council finding billets for evacuees. German planes often passed over...

A Day to Remember, A GI Children's Party

GI children's Party My mother would often tell me about this incident during the Second World War: One...

Refugee in Dorset

Early in the war, my parents decided that my mother, my sister and I should be evacuated to Bridport,...

Wartime Memories of a Village Child

Our village did a great deal for the War Effort - sales, carnivals etc. to raise money for "Wings for...

Chesil Beach Vehicle Park

As D Day approached Weymouth was filled with American Troops and a large area alongside the road between...

Guns and Mud: Life in the ATS

However all was revealed and on passing our Trade Test we joined our first battery, then to firing camp on...

Jim Jennings, My Dad -Who I Never Knew

My dad Jim Jennings, youngest of 11 children was in the Second Battalion Grenadier Guards at the outbreak...

The Night We Lost Our Back Door

One particuler evening when I was about 5 years old my Dad appeared and he had not long been home when the...

Lady Janet's Parrot

I turned round and saw that it was Lady Janet's parrot called Wallace... The next morning I was sent...

Bombs at Puncknowle

I am Joseph Sidney Simmonds, born 26 July 1922 at Puncknowle, where I lived until 1980 when I moved to...

D.U.K.Ws at Weymouth

My Dad, being a farmer, was unable to take holidays during war time - but he especially took my mother -...

Life in Blandford

I have lived in Blandford all my life- I grew up on East Street in a three storey house, it was a...

Memories of a Little Girl

Because although the machines could make the nets they couldn't do a selvedge on either side. I do...

A Child of the War: Memories of Bournemouth

I have very few memories of him but a lasting memory is being taken in his arms and thrown up into the...

Princess Marina and the Apron Strings

At the time of this story, she was stationed at RAF Warmwell in Dorset, a station that was to be totally...

The War Stopped for Rabbits: Americans in Weymouth

My father owned three cottages which were bombed and no longer inhabitable. He was a master butcher and...

A schoolboy’s version of V.E. Day

When peace in Europe was declared in May 1945 I was a ten year old pupil at Broadstone School, near Poole...

A Dorset Childhood

When I lived in Ferndown during the war years 1939-45, German Bombers flew over my home on the way to the...

Childhood Memories from Bournemouth

One night my Dad and I stood in the doorway while a raid was going on watching the incendries drop in the...

The Proverbial Ostrich.

We thought he was aiming at us, and as I was very near to some sand dunes I literally hurled myself into...

Memories of Y Force or Attendance at CLTS Elstree Training School

It was my job to install the equipment on Blenheim aircraft. We put IFF transmitterson our own...