Schooldays in WW2 by Tom Hedley

Transcription

1 Schooldays in WW2 by Tom Hedley I was 8 years old when war was declared in 1939, I lived in James Street till 1941 then we moved to Milton Terrace. As children we very excited but we didn't understand or realise the implications of war. One the first things that happened at school was the windows were criss-crossed with strips of gummed brown paper, this was to stop them from splintering in the event of bomb blast, the strips were later replaced with mesh. In the event of an air raid we had to shelter under our desks. Everyone had to go to the Maltings at Chester-le-Street to be fitted with a gas mask; these were to be carried at all times, if we went to school without them we were sent home for them. Air-raid shelters were built, in our area homes were issued with an Anderson Shelter, these were made of galvanised steel with arched sections, depending on the size of the family you got two or three sections. The shelters stood about 6ft high and had to have half this height submerged below ground. The holes had to be dug and the shelters erected by any able-bodied member of the family. When erected the shelters were then covered with the soil from the hole, a lot of people built stone around them for extra protection then grassed them over or planted them with flowers. At the time some of the streets in our area were being demolished so most of our shelters were fitted with bunks made from the floorboards borrowed from these houses. Because they were made of steel and partly below ground most of these shelters were damp and some even flooded. The shelters were to be used in the event of an air-raid, before their issue people sheltered under stairs or tables when an air-raid warning was sounded. When an air-raid was imminent a warning was sounded by a wailing siren and everyone was supposed to take cover, communal shelters were also built for anyone caught away from home. These were brick and concrete structures with room for 40 or 50 people; I remember one opposite North View, one at the bottom of Bloomfield Terrace and another behind the crossing keeper s cabin at the end of the Battery. After an air-raid the All-Clear was sounded, this was a long steady pitch of the siren. At this time we also had shelters built in the school field, where the comprehensive school now stands, and when the sirens sounded we were marched to the shelters till the raid was over, not a lot of raids occurred during daylight hours so we did not spend too much time in the shelters. I also remember having to

2 test our gas-masks in one of the shelters. We had to put our masks on and go into one of the shelters which had been filled with tear-gas, luckily most fitted correctly. A.R.P. Air Raid Precautions. On the home front one of the first things to be organised was the A.R.P. Wardens were appointed and A.R.P. Posts built, these were the communication centres in the event of air-raids and the wardens were to organise operations if bombing occurred. One post was sited on the green just below where the Village Hall now stands and another on Front Street, next to Downey's shop. Every able-bodied man was detailed to do a spell of fire-watching; this was in case incendiary bombs were dropped. Each street was issued with a stirrup pump and the wardens demonstrated on their use, men worked in two man teams, one operated the pump which was placed in a bucket of water, whilst the other crawled on his belly with a blazer or dustbin lid in one hand and the hose in the other to spray the incendiary bomb (luckily they weren't needed). During the war everything had to be blacked-out at night, windows were fitted with black curtains or shutters and another of the warden s duties was to see that these regulations were enforced. "Put that light out" became a familiar cry. Vehicle headlamps were masked with only a narrow slit of light shown. Army Lorries were fitted with a small spot-lamp and had a white spot painted on the rear axle, when in convoy the lamp shone on the white spot in front of them and they could keep in contact with minimum of light. Also early in the war the Local Defence Volunteers were formed. L.D.V. Look, Duck and Vanish. Later they were renamed the Home Guard. These were men unable to enlist for active duty and a lot of them were veterans from the First World War (thus Dads Army). Mr Rose the colliery manager became Major Rose. Mining was a reserved occupation and miners weren't allowed to enlist in the forces so the local Home Guard had a number of younger volunteers. At first the force had no weapons and I remember a group of men fixing a post near the sand quarry, somebody had a.22 rifle and they sat on the banks below Lonsdale Street taking turns firing across the valley at the post. At school the iron railings were taken to be melted down and used in the war effort, we did not do wood-work as timber was no longer available and sports equipment could not be replaced so recreations like football had to be curtailed. Other early activities included a searchlight being sighted at Pelton Lane

3 Ends on the hill opposite the Co-op and a flashing beacon at Hett Hills, whether this was a decoy for the enemy or a guide for our own aircraft I don't know. Looking North towards Newcastle the skyline was filled with grey air-ship like barrage balloons, these were to discourage low flying aircraft. For the first few months we saw little activity and when the air-raids started they were mainly on the coast or on the Tyne. During an air-raid at night the sky would be lit by search-lights and the flashes from anti-aircraft guns. I remember the first German plane we saw shot down, it was first caught in the search-lights then hit, cheers could be heard for miles around. The closest we came to bombing was at Beamish and Chester Moor. When the Home Guard became equipped they would train on Sunday mornings and often held manoeuvres in the woods or what we called the Diggings, these manoeuvres would go on till 12 o'clock (opening time). Whilst in progress guards would be posted, we knew the area better and would by-pass the guards and often sat on the side of the railway line watching mortars fly over and explode in the bankside. The army dispatch riders also trained on their motor-bikes in this area. The pit-pond was filled with boxes of Molotov Cocktails, these were bottles filled with phosphorous which when broken and exposed to the air would ignite. They were to be used by the Home Guard as anti-tank weapons in the event of an invasion. Several plane crashes occurred in the area and we often walked miles to see them. The first I remember was at the Forges at Beamish, another in a field at the bottom of Edmondsley bank and one next to the Forty Trees. When America entered the war American troops were stationed at Urpeth Hall, we went to see them but weren't impressed, they just seemed to chew gum and play rounder s (baseball). Later in the war the Hall was used to house Italian prisoners. The Italians must have been regarded as low risk as they were allowed to work on local farms and at the Brickyard. The prisoners had large round patches sewn to the backs of their jackets so they could be easily recognised. I remember early in the war Italy joined the Germans, a group of men were returning from the Club one Sunday and the Ice-Cream cart owned by Citrone s was coming down the fields from the Busty. The men chased the Ice-Cream man then loosed the horse and wheeled the cart over the banks and smashed it down into the Dene. During the war years everything was in short supply so rationing was imposed. Everyone was issued with ration books for food, sweets and

4 clothing. Each person was to register with a shop for their weekly allowance of butter, sugar, cheese, cooking fats, bacon, eggs etc. The allowance was only ounces. Canned foods were rated on a points system and points books were issued, sweets had a similar system. Coupons were also needed for clothing. As almost everything was in short supply queuing became a regular routine, it was not unknown for someone to join a queue without knowing what the shop was selling. With sweets being rationed and fruit in short supply when we went to school we would call at Mrs. Walkers shop and she would sell a slice of turnip or a carrot. Clothing and furniture had to meet strict economy standards and were marked with a utility mark to prove they met these standards. New foods such as dried egg and Spam appeared on the market and women became very adept at making the most of the rations. Everyone was encouraged to turn their gardens into vegetable plots to help the food effort; at harvest time we were allowed half days off school to go potato picking. We were issued with a bluecard which had to be signed by the farmer to verify we had been picking. Several money raising events took place during the war years, and during Wings for Victory Week a German Meschersmitt fighter plane was on display in the Chester-le-Street cricket ground. Sports and other events were organised during these weeks and quite a lot of money was raised in this way. Comforts for the troops were also requested and organisations such as the W.I. formed knitting groups to knit socks and balaclavas etc. Another event which took place was Holidays at Home Week. Veryfew people had holidays in those days and most coastal areas were out of bounds in case of invasion from the sea. Events and exhibitions by various local organisations took place in the football field in Station Lane and we exhibited paintings from school in the Institute. As children we made a lot of our own entertainment. Sports equipment wasn't available so we played football in the back-street with a tennis ball, we fashioned a cricket bat from a piece of wood and chalked stumps on a wall for a wicket. We could make a catapult from a forked branch and an old inner- tube, we all knew how to make a bow and arrow or make a kite with a couple of canes some brown paper and string. The nearest swimming baths were at Birtley and these were open-air so we all learned to swim in the scout s pond. In those days we didn't have television we only had a wireless, a lot of people hadn't even electricity so most sets were run with batteries and accumulators. We listened to programmes such as Monday Night at Eight, ITMA or the Charlie Chester Show, but the highlight of the week for us was on Friday night at 9 o'clock Appointment With Fear with the Man in Black, Valentine Dial. There were also three local

5 picture houses the Grand at Newfield, the Kings at Pelton and the Pavilion at Grange Villa. There were also four cinemas in Chester-le-Street. It was only through the newsreels at the pictures that we really saw the impact of the war. Also in the village we had two troops of Boy Scouts and a Boys Brigade group so I can't say we were ever bored, whilst we may not have had a lot of material things I think we had a happy childhood.