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At the beginning of the war we lived in Ewhurst Road and I went to the National School in what is now the Arts Centre. One of my earliest recollections is of the lorries passing my house every few minutes taking sand from the local quarry in Pitch Hill to Dunsfold Aerodrome which was being built by Canadian Troops. There was great excitement when a German bomber came down in a field near to Ruffold Farm and there was always great competition between the boys to collect the perspex for making rings and model aircraft. On one occasion a barrage balloon came down near the Showground and we had great fun jumping up and down on it and some of the villagers collected the ropes before it was recovered. On most nights the sirens went off and we took to the shelter in the back garden which always seemed to be knee deep in water. We often watched the dogfights taking place overhead. Once during the day we saw a Spitfire chasing a Doodlebug and it was able to tip it over and it crashed safely on Pitch Hill. The first bomb to drop was an oil bomb near the forge in Mead Road but very little damage resulted. As most of the men were involved in the war the women and children got involved in potato picking for which we had to walk to Ewhurst. We often used to bury a few potatoes in the ground so when the field was ploughed we could go back and collect them. School life proceeded normally until the Infant School was destroyed and there were just not enough classrooms for the local children and the evacuees. Temporary classrooms were set up in the British Legion, Village Hall and Wesleyan Hall and we moved between all of these. Mr Blogg was the Headmaster at that time and before that Mr English. I only saw my father on a few occasions during the war and he never spoke much about it. I later learned he was in the Marines and won the George Medal.
On VE Day a bonfire was lit on Parkhouse Green. In the following year the bonfire was built but the Council burnt it in a controlled fashion to save the sparks before we could light it.

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