Peter Lindley

I can remember having to sleep in the pantry

When I was about 2 years old, I can remember having to sleep in the pantry (the cupboard under the stairs!) as it was considered the safest place to be.

One dark evening I was held up to the window to see lights in the sky coming from the East towards Nottingham. This was an aircraft with its engine on fire; it was either an English plane on the way home which had been hit or a German bomber which had been hit on the way in.

I can also remember hearing very loud sounds late afternoon/early evening, like drums; these, I was told later, were from the Canadian forces, who were based close to the crematorium near my home, firing at incoming bombers from the Germans.

I can also remember my dad (Great Grandpa) going out in the evening to do his shift on ‘fire watching’ on the high roofs in Nottingham.   Earlier in the war he (Great Grandpa) was based in Padstow.   After the war there was rationing of everything, meat, butter etc. especially sweets (there were none available).

I was taken to visit RAF Cranwell Lincolnshire; it was the main air force administration and training centre for whole of Eastern England and Great Grandpa was on the training staff at the time. I was given a toy ‘plane – a ‘Mosquito Fighter’ and my brother was given a toy ‘Moderator Bomber’ to play with. This was a big treat. I was also given the first orange I had ever seen, so I bit it and it tasted horrible.  I had bitten into the skin as I didn’t know you had to peel it!

I also remember lots of people missing and many children without one parent.

Shared by Olivia and Annabel Graham, his grandaughters