http://www.memorylanehf.oddquine.co.uk/ You will find the book mentioned previously in my poetry section titled "Yesterdays Child". A true account of my life from 1930 up to 1949. Strangely enough when I had written about my early life it helped to allay many demons that had tormented me for years. I cant write fiction and even my poems are written round true tales. If anyone reads the website and the book I hope you enjoy your trip through Memory Lane.
Glenn Miller was a favourite of both hubby and myself Patsy and when hubby was in the depths of the Dementia I used to sit him at the computer and put U-tubes up of the Big Band Sounds. It was lovely to see hubby tapping his fingers to the beat and a flicker of recognition come across his face. It will be two years tomorrow since I lost him after 67 years of marriage. We saw many changes in our lifetime but I would not have it any other way.
Maisie, I've bookmarked that site too I'll read it later today. BTW what pretty pictures of you then and now on the first page... I've read very many first hand accounts of the war years....so I'm looking forward to reading yours. My favourites are the mass observation Diaries written by ordinary people secretly during and after the war years and some revived and reprinted by Simon Garfield ,..Our Hidden Lives, We are at War, and several others. They are day to day accounts of ordinary lives being lived as the war rages on, ... have you ever read those.. ?
To be honest Holly I pushed WW2 out of my mind because it had been TOO traumatic and it was only in later years as I said that my son asked me to write down my nightmares.
Oh I'm sorry you had such a traumatic time, during WW2 Maisie, that's not to say most people didn't of course, but some like you obviously worse than others. My father who was born in '26 but still too young to have been called up when war broke out, used to say that the bombing ..and they were bombed a lot in Glasgow as was London, and Coventry etc ...was just an inconvenience. he said he'd be asleep when the air raid sirens went off, and everyone would run to the shelters, but he would just roll over and under his bed, because he had work to go to ( teenager by then ) and he felt if the bomb had his name on it , it would get him wherever he was. Other than that he didn't speak of the war nor did my grandparents.. but I'm sure they had some very frightening times. My mother was just in infant school when war broke out and she was evacuated to a farm in the country! Anyway, I've read accounts of the war from many sources...so no need for me to ask you for any account of it if it's still raw for you... looking forward to your reminiscences about everyday life in the fifties.. when I was born!!
It seems a lot of people did that Maisie, my family included I understand that too I'm also pleased some people have managed to put their thoughts and recollections on paper
Its all in the book Holly and with me NOT having a good start off in life did not help. I have to admit that since I wrote about my childhood and the traumatic time that I went through it has helped lay some demons.
My mother-in-law from my first marriage was English, and she would tell us about being in England during the war. She grew up in Lancashire; but I think that she might have been in London during the war. She was a nurse, and so was working in a hospital and helping the injured soldiers there. She talked about having the windows blacked out, and having to run to shelter when the air raid sirens went off. My father-in-law was from upstate New York State, and he was in the Air Force during the war, and stationed in England, and that was how they met each other.
Yes we had them stationed a couple of miles away from Loughborough Yvonne and this tells of that time. http://www.quornmuseum.com/display.php?id=497 They used to go looking for my mother because she had a great singing voice and sang all the songs they liked.
Hi Ho Maisie, what a coincidence finding you on here. Delightful to say the least. I also found another Buzzer here. I hope lots of people read your book since the proceeds go to such a worthy cause and we should never forget our own history. We have to pass it along since the youngsters evidently aren't learning it correctly today.
@Lois Winters - I ordered the book and still have it, have re-read it twice so far - really a good read