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I lived in Liverpool. The day before War was declared on the Sunday, my friend and I went to the cinema. It had been put out that there would be a practise black out that evening so we were expecting it to be dark. But as we came out the sky was lit up and I thought the wasr had started. It turned out to be the aurora borealis!

At the start of the war I was 18 and working at Littlewoods catelogue offices, using the comptometer to calculate figures. I applied to Napiers, which made aircraft engines and worked in the office there. I wanted to go into the forces but was in a reserved occupation so it was tricky but in the end they let me go.

I went for three weeks basic training to Harrogate - it was actually a private girls school. We had all sorts of tests to see what we were suited for and I ended up in the signals regiment - Royal Signal Corps. I was used to machiery so was trained as a teleprinter operator sending messages around. I was also sent as a relief up near Lancaster as a swithboard operator although i wasn't trained for that so the switchboard was a little slower with me there!

We did shift work, working days and nights. If it was quiet were were allowed to lie down on a table with a blanket. At night the cockroaches would come out and I was terrified of them!

I can't remember us having an ARP warden for the road so the neighbours got together in groups of three to make sure everyone was alerted and safe. We were about a mile and a half from the railway. One evening a bomb fell and struck a waggon and this set off all the others linked to it - one after the other. My mother reacted to the noise and sank to her knees each time there was a bang. By the end, her knees were a mass of blood.

Local children would have lessons at our house. I think my mother volunteered for this because the schools were closed.

We had an Anderson Shelter in the garden. Dad had done a great job. It was waterproof. There was a bed down one side for my brothers and a bench along the other. During the May blitz of 1941 people were prepared and went straight into the shelters without waiting for the early warning. My mother had everything in there including a storm lamp.

My neighbour didn't have a shelter so she used to come and use ours. One night I'd been washing my hair and I put a towel on to cover my hair as the siren went off. It gave the neighbour a fright as it was dark and all she could see was a big white thing coming towards her in the dark. She screamed but she got over it quickly enough.

In the roads we'd have great big metal tanks which were emergency water supply. They were about 4 foot deep. These were helpful for putting out fires, especially if it was left to the locals before the fire brigade turned up. We also had British Cafes/Restaurants (I can't quite remember the name)which were run by the Government. These served a basic meal to help eak out the rations.

Living on the outskirts of liverpool we were quite lucky as the bombings centred around the docks. Although sometimes bombs would get dropped anywhere if the pilots wanted to clear them out before flying home.

My granparents had a farm and used to make their own butter. Grandmother would used to barter butter and eggs for other things. The farms meant we had chicken and apples and goosberries.

I was married during the war and my husband was in the navy.

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