MEMORIES OF MY PARENTS GEORGE AND EDNA WALKER

My parents are now dead but these are a few of their memories as told to me over the years:

1 My parents were bombed out of their first flat (I don't know the address). Luckily neither were hurt. Only my mother was home at the time. She was wearing a sundress and the impact of the blast broke the straps and she was left standing in her underwear! Unfortunately she lost her engagement ring in the blast.

2 After my father was called up my mother worked for a short while in a munitions factory but hated it so she joined the local fire service (they lived at this time in Muswell Hill), which she thoroughly enjoyed. She even drove during the war although she never took a driving test. She never drove again after the war.

3 My father joined the Royal Artillery and was posted to the west country, first near Devizes and then to Bickleigh near Tiverton in Devon. They were marched up to Bickleigh Castle once a week to have a bath. He was staioned near a small farm owned by a Mrs Kelland who was trying to run the farm on her own as her sons had been called up. The soldiers used to do what they could to help her and in return she gave them a meal. My mother used to go down and stay with her sometimes to see my father and loved the peace and quiet. She particularly loved the sound of the river exe flowing over the pebbles at night - she said it was wonderful after the blitz. After the war mrs Kelland took in paying guests and my mother, father and I spent our summer holidays with her until I was about 16. I remember her two daughters who lived with her They were called Dinx and I think Kate. Dinx worked in the Internatilnal Stores in Tiverton. My father was stationed there when exeter was bombed. He helped man the searchlights and said he watched exeter being raized to the ground.

4 My mother and I were briefly evacuated to I think Wincanton but she went back to London when my father was sent to Palestine. My parents kept in touch with the family we lived with and exchanged Christmas cards until they died.

5 Towards the end of the war my father was sent to Palestine - I would love to know the date and whereabouts he was stationed. He was given a job in the officers mess and this was the best part of the war for him. He loved that part of the world and said it was very beautiful. I still have a packet of small black and white photos of Jerusalem that he brought home with him.

6 After they were bombed out my parents moved to Seymour Court in Muswell Hill and stayed there until I was 3 (I was born in February 1944) So apart from when she was briefly evacuated my mum lived there throughout the war. She had a great friend who lived in the flat above called Aunty Betty and she used to spend the night with mum during the blitz as mum's flat was on the ground floor and thought to be safer. She said when the siren sounded they used to sit up in bed with me (a small baby) between them and put on their tin hats and think they were safe! One night when the siren sounded everyone came down to the ground floor and sat in the hall. One of the bombs was so close it blew the door off mum's flat and everyone fell into her living room. One Christmas someone said to Mum that he could get her a chicken for Christmas which was a great treat. When it arrived it still had its head and feathers on. Mum said she couldn't look when she put her hand inside the bird and Aunty Betty said she couldn't put her hand inside so Mum put her hand it with her eyes shut and Aunty Betty told her what she had pulled out!

6 On VE day my Mum went up the London with me (about 18 months) and was amongst the crowds outside Buckingham Palace. She said the atmosphere was amazing but she was frightened that I was going to be crushed in the crowds.

8 My Mum found it very difficult getting a pram or pushchair for me because of the shortages. One day she was told that a shop in Oxford Street in London had just received some pushchairs and she queued all day to get one for me. She said we were only allowed one egg a week and she always gave it to me. One week she was allowed a few more and decided to have one herself. Apparently I was very indignant and wanted to know why she was eating my egg!

7 My Dad was eventually demobbed when I was about 2 and when he came home he found he only had one pair of trousers as my Mum (who was a dressmaker by profession) had cut all his others up to make a coat, hat and skirt for me.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.