Gloucestershire

Two evacuees: Birmingham to Minchinhampton

Auntie Eva used to bake, bottle and make jam and wine and the most delicious fruit juice, that stood in a...

War Memoirs of Reginald Kenneth Probst (part 4)

It was one of our chaps, Jellot, later to become Chief Civil Engineer Southampton Docks, who went off on...

Gloucestershire - Sid's Story

In 1948 they decided to make their home permanently in Stonehouse and there they lived until their deaths,...

A Boy's War in Tetbury, Gloucestershire

There were many bombs that fell in Tetbury and there was a German fighter plane that crash landed near the...

A Mix of Teaching, Spitfires and Gliders

I emerged from the nstructors course brimming with knowledeg and enthusiasm , Posted To Insworth Gloucester...

The Blitz of Bath 1942

My mother and another aunt were arguing as to whether the aircraft was British or German when we saw a bomb...

Fundraising for the Firewatchers as a Girl

When the air raid siren went off we had to hide in the cupboard under the stairs and one of my evacuee...

Middle Years Part Two

I chose the Army Cadets and under the command of a middle-aged teacher we were drilled in the playground or...

Wartime Life on a Gloucestershire Farm

Dad's Uncle Gus from Cirencester used to visit each week and he used to watch the planes and one day he...

The September Bombing at Filton Aircraft Factory

The Dorniers went on to bomb the Filton Airfield, and my uncle Arthur Bailey, mother's brother, was...

Growing Up in World War 2: In the Cotswolds and the RAF

There I was regraded WOPair and from there to Bridlington Initial training wing.After the 6 week course it...

School Evacuees

They chose the children they fancied, gave addresses to the billeting officer. Boys were not wanted but as...

A Child's War

Dad was very upset as he had worked in London for the best part of the war shoring up bomb damaged...

Staying One Ahead of the Bombs

And near the YMCA there was a long wooden hut which used to be the church hut, and they'd taken over...

Recollections of a WAAF 1942 - 1951

Eventually some of us were sent to Moreton in Marsh and for a while I was a receptionist in the...

Firefighting at the Gloster Aircraft Company

It went on like that until Easter 1942 when there was a raid on Gloster Aircraft and bombs dropped on the...

When Smoke Gets In My Eyes: A Story of a Female Passenger Guard, aged 17

My arrival into the world was on October 26th 1923, at number 1 Railway Terrace, Kemble, which is not far...

The Spying Game

At this time it was suspected there were still a few German stragglers – the French had spotted a...

How Mrs Hyett lived through the War

Food was still very scarce and one day when she opened her bacon ration and found it was crawling with...

Refits and Navy Life

School Story

Lord Bath of Longleat was one of the Governors of the school and had said that, if war broke out and the...

Susan's Bloody Nose

The cottage Miss Pugh lived in had no running water and no indoor toilet. A gang of us used to walk around...

Red Cross Nurse

Second Poem dedicated to Nurse Burton from her brother 15th May 1941. The Red Cross nurses’ costume...

In the Nick of Time.

Within seconds a bomb fell in the garden next to us and the window blew in with debryu falling on the bed...

Wartime Down the Lane

When I ran indoors I was quite surprised to find granny crying, she said "I had three in the first lot...

Delayed Action Bomb at Parnalls in Yate

These gun turrets were used in the large four-engined bombers - Lancasters, Whitneys and the Wellingtons,...