The boys jumped on top of the shelter banging about, while all the girls went inside the shelter and screamed.
I remember coming home from school with my friends from Priory School for my seventh birthday party in 1939, July. We had cakes and jelly and then trooped out in the garden to play. And there, suddenly, at the end of the lawn was a strange metal thing standing in a large hole.
We went to investigate – we must have realised it was an air raid shelter being built because we started playing at war. The boys jumped on top of the shelter banging about and making noises like guns and flares and bombs, while all the girls went inside the shelter and screamed.
We couldn’t understand why the grown-ups were upset and angry and made us stop playing.