Here we go! That dreaded sound ,like the wail of a Banshee. The air raid siren, warning every one to get to the shelter as soon as possible.

A last minute scramble to get the necessary items that were all together ready and checked. The torch, spare batteries, thermos flask of tea and cocoa. What ever was available on sandwiches, to last night and part of the way through the next day. Blankets to keep warm during the cold tension filled night.

The shelter was a metal, corrugated shell, half buried in the ground, half above, covered in dirt and bricks as some form of protection against falling shrapnel from anti aircraft shells, they would not survive a hit from a bomb.

The drone of the enemy aircraft over head could be heard, and the first scream of falling bombs sent shivers down our spines. They had special fins fitted to make them scream to cause terror the city under attack.

The sound of bombs exploding, were accompanied by the sound of anti aircraft guns opening up. The ground shook as the bombs rained down.

The Green Lane cinema on the corner of Victoria Road, just survived a land mine, dropped from an aircraft, by parachute, it landed opposite the cinema, leaving a large crater destroying houses and stables and killing all the horses.

Years later I ran the Scout Troop ( 28th and 44th) at the school, spending a lot of time taking the troop to Danzey Green, camping on the site of an old Priory. With the Rovers and Seniors we camped all year round, most weekends if we could.

Thanks to Dr Beeching the trains don’t stop there any more, at least on Sundays, so we could never get back home Sunday night.

The welcome sound of the sirens sounding the all clear, wailed across the city, people came out of the shelters and life got back to normal. If starvation, death, and destruction are normal…….

On the way to school, we would look for shrapnel, ( bits of shell fragments ) to see who could find the largest bits. Once we found an unexploded incendiary bomb in the gutter opposite the school. The police came to collect it.

Everything was in short supply, and most things on ration, food, clothing, petrol, sweets and most other things could only be got if you had enough coupons to get them. Everybody was issued with a ration book full of coupons but you could only use so many a week to get essential things, that’s if the shop had any.

At the height of the war it was decided to spread some of the school children around the city to minimise the loss of the next generation, should any of the schools be hit and destroyed during day light raids.

I’m not sure how it came about, but a group of children were assigned to our house, with a teacher for lessons in our front room, above the shop. Most of the time was spent playing with my electric train set, which was laid out on the floor around the room.

At least I didn’t have far to go to class.

I have fond memories of Marlborough Road School. The teachers were strict, but fair, the only problem that I can recall was with the wood work teacher, I had trouble scribing a line round a block of wood, and ended up with several smacks across the backside with a flat wooden bat, I still sit down gingerly at the thought of it. I was a prefect for a short time before I left.