- Contributed by听
- GatesheadLibraries
- People in story:听
- Matthew (Matt) Callaghan, told by Cicely (Cissy) Dodds, nee Callaghan
- Location of story:听
- Gateshead and Blaydon, Tyne and Wear
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A3278414
- Contributed on:听
- 15 November 2004
My brother who was in the Army was posted at a centre in Gateshead, where he was a Bren gun carrier instructor, teaching other soldiers how to drive these things, which looked like little tanks. One day he was instructing these guys along the main road from Gateshead to Blaydon and thought, 鈥淚鈥檓 near my mum鈥檚 here,鈥 so he just turned up Blaydon Bank and went straight up Harriet Street, to the astonishment of the residents. They all thought the invasion had started when they saw this little tank coming up the road! After she had got over the shock, Mum got cracking with her bacon ration and the frying pan. She had luckily already got a fresh yeasty cake in the oven to make bacon sandwiches to feed the lads. Needless to say, my brother didn鈥檛 half get into trouble when he went back to the depot, as he ought not to have taken his vehicle up into a residential area but should have stuck to the main roads.
As told to Karen Hannah, Blaydon Library, on Friday 8th October 2004.
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