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A country life for me

At the outbreak of the War I was living in the Fountain Head pub in North Shields together with my mother, father, brother and sister. I was 11 years old and had just started at Ralph Gardner Senior School.

We were measured and supplied with gas masks and were told that we must carry them everywhere. We dutifully did this 鈥� to forget your gas mask was almost a sin and you never forgot your identity number 鈥� GBBA/203/4!

Before the air-raid shelters were completed the school was scheduled for evacuation and together with my brother and sister we were evacuated amid lots of tears. We arrived in Bellingham, where all the pupils were housed, except my brother and I. We were taken over the moors to Otterburn where we lived with the Waddells at Otterburn Mill.

This was an entirely different lifestyle to the one we were used top. Having been raised in a family of publicans with lots of noise and music we were now living with the 鈥渃ountry set鈥� in the quiet of the countryside.

We learned top bring in the cattle, milk the cows, and to muck out and feed them. On one occasion we herded some cows to nearby Elsdon to be serviced by a bull. Collecting eggs from free range hens was a bit like 鈥渉unt the thimble鈥� for they laid their eggs in the most unlikely places around the mill yard.

Mr Waddell was a real gentleman but very religious (Methodist). We had to go to church three times on Sunday; family prayers were said every day and grace at every meal. There was no work on Sunday but also no play! All chores were completed by Saturday night. Leisure was quiet reading or walking. However he was a great sportsman; shooting, fishing and hunting 鈥� an expert at all three but never on a Sunday.

Occasionally on Saturdays we would go off shooting with Mr Waddell and one of his friends, in a big Armstrong Sidley car on 鈥減ink鈥� petrol. This was to augment the food rationing. We were the gatherers as they shot partridges, rabbits and snipe. So despite the rationing we lived and ate very well with plenty of fruit from the orchard and plenty of game.

One of the highlights of our stay in Otterburn was to welcome home a hero 鈥� I think his name was Archibald. He commanded a destroyer and during one naval engagement his vessel sank two German U-boats. On arriving home on leave he was given a great welcome. All the village turned out to greet him and the young boys of the village, which included my brother and I, pulled him with ropes up the drive to Otterburn Towers whilst he sat seated in an open top car. This was recorded on the cinema news reels of the day and I saw it years later on TV鈥檚 鈥淎ll Our Yesterdays鈥� programme.

I cannot remember the dates but we were transferred to Wooler to stay in the same house as our younger sister, 鈥淭he Drill Hall鈥� just beside Wooler Water next to Redpath鈥檚 Garage. Although we had no complaints about Otterburn, I think we were attracted to Wooler by letters from our sister telling us about going to the pictures free! The Drill Hall was the local 鈥榩icture house鈥� and the film changed three time a week! Unfortunately the food was not the same standard as it had been at Otterburn Mill 鈥� but you can鈥檛 have everything!

Back Home

All this was very interesting 鈥�. But homesickness and the lack of any actual bombing in North Shields eventually drew us back home.

During our evacuation our parents had left the pub. My father, being a fully-qualified boilermaker-plater was back in the shipyards and we had moved to Kirton Park Terrace.

Wc returned to Shields just in time for the bombing to start!

Preston Hospital was hit and the streets flattened beside Smith鈥檚 Docks. As we had no air-raid shelters at the time during a raid we had to run the gauntlet from our house to Preston Park communal shelter. The ack-ack guns from nearby fields sounded as if they were in the same street 鈥� what a noise! Occasionally in the middle of the night we would just stay under the stairs, which was said to be the strongest part of the house. We did eventually get our Anderson shelter and my father made it pretty comfortable.

I remember one night, during a raid, standing with my bike at the traffic lights waiting for the lights to turn green while bombs were falling! I must have been crackers! There wasn鈥檛 a car in sight 鈥� it just shows how used we were to obeying rules in those days.

They hit North Shields Goods Station that night. My brother, who was now working at a gent鈥檚 outfitters and was also a fire watcher, went down to the shop to remove all the suits and goods from the window display because the glass had been blown out. He then cycled to the owner鈥檚 in Whitley Bay to inform him and was given a 3d bit for his efforts.

On leaving school at 14 I went to work at John Redhead and Sons, Shipbuilders and Engineers, South Shields, first as an office boy, then as an apprentice draughtsman and later as a fully qualified draughtsman.

As office boy I was first in the office to open the basement strongroom where overnight all the plans and documents were stored for security. The air-raid wardens鈥� and fire-watchers鈥� telephones had to be unplugged from the basement and re-installed in the drawing office. All the blackouts had to be taken down so that the office was ready for the staff to start work. On leaving the office at night this ritual had to be done in reverse so I was often the last to leave.

I did receive my 鈥榗all-up鈥� papers for the forces but as I was in a reserved occupation I was exempt from duty.

As the war turned in our favour Redhead鈥檚 shipyard built some small tankers with cut away bows for running onto the beaches of Europe during the invasion. These ships allowed our forces to have immediate access to oil and fuel on the enemy side of the channel.

One thing about the war 鈥� we all knew we were going to win it! It never occurred to us that we would ever lose. Nevertheless, we were all relieved when it was over and once again the lights were turned on.

If there was such a thing, I鈥檓 sure that I had a 鈥榣ucky鈥� war. An uncle was lost at sea as a result of enemy action and one of our bar-maids, a lovely girl, was killed together with her whole family when their house suffered a direct hit. None of my immediate family suffered; we certainly didn鈥檛 starve; nor did we want for much; we had to work hard but in the end it was worth the effort that everyone made 鈥� we won!

William Stephenson

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