My name is Enid Turner I was born in Bridge Road Fulham London in1935 to Maybel and Bill Noades I have a younger brother Raymond. My father was a regular soldier he never saw my brother as he was killed in Dunkirk.
My mother losted me to evacuation. At the age of 5 we all went down to our school were we were put on to coaches and taken to a train station. We could only take a small brown paper parcel and a label with our names on and what we stood up in and a gas mask as we had to carry our own luggage. We received sandwiches from the Red Cross. We were crammed into a carriage and it was very hot.
We arrived in Devon I was billeted to a farm I was very lucky I had a good home with the farmer and his wife and 3 sons and their grandma. I did not go to school while I was there I learned to swim in the sea, ride shire horses and made patties of butter with the grandma. They were all very good to me. After being in Devon for 2½ years my mother brought me home as there was a lull in the war.
I started school and spent most of the time in the air raid shelter as the doodlebugs and butterfly bombs had begun to come over. I was never frightened in the shelters as I was to young to realise what was going on. I thought it was exciting we would play games and sing. We often went hungry as we spent so much time in the air raid shelter. We went to bed with our clothes on so we could dash to the shelter when the sighreen went. My job in the shelter was to turn off the light if any one wanted to come in or go out it was a very important job. The families in our street shared what we had a tin of corned beef or coco as we were all on rations.
One day we came out to find our house had been bombed we slept on the Church floor for 3 nights. The Salvation Army and the Red Cross were very good to us. The council could not find any were for us to live so we went to live with my grandma in Fulham. My mother went to work at the gas works it was very hard work usually done by a man. At night she had to take her turn fire watching. Gran would not go in the shelter so mam would call in from time to time to see if we were all right. During the day if there was an air raid Grandma would make us sit under the table. Grand ma was a lovely old soul she would always help when the neighbours were having babies, or if any one died she would lay them out. She was blind in one eye and had cataract on the other she went into Paddington Hospital to have it removed while she was there the hospital was bombed and 4 days later she died of shock from the blast. I looked after my younger brother we used to collect shrapnel from the bombs to sell.
The worsted site I saw as a child was when a bomb dropped near a shelter and a whole family was found dead sitting in the shelter like dummies they had died from the blast. The street were we lived had a fire station at one end and a police station at the other. They kept an eye on us. If you were out when the sighreen went you went down the first shelter you came to. All the people were very kind they shared what little food they had, as food was very scarce. We had to cue for every thing if you saw a cue you stood in it and hoped you would get something at the end be it an egg or bananas or oranges. My mam became engaged to an American pilot and he would bring us chocolate and oranges and his mother sent me a kilt. Sadly he was killed over Germany. We used to have to cue at the gas works for our coke I would take the pram and my little brother so we could get two bags one each. I can never remember having a birthday cake. Every one in the street new everyone else if I was playing out side late some one would say time you was in love or I will tell your mam.
Things turned really bad again in London and we had no gas electricity and had to sleep on the church floor kids were evacuated again. This time I was vaccinated and sent to Cornwall. I went down with vaccine poison and was very poorly. I went to live in a big house and had my own playroom but I was very lonely. I stayed there for 6 months. When the war was over we had some grand street parties.
I went to work in the co-op as a bookkeeper and had various other jobs. When I worked in Chelsea 3 Soldiers came in one was Tom who later became my husband. He had joined the Scot Guards in 1950. He had worked down the pit mine but hated it. We got married and lived with my grandma for a while later we went to live in a flat but Tom hated it he preferred the country as he was born in the pit village of Thornley. In 1963 we moved to a house in Swindon with our 3 children and Tom worked as a postman.
We used to come up north to visit Tom's mam and dad and family. I did not want to come north to live but in 1970 I was out voted so we moved to Thornley and bought a two bedroom house with coal fires We found it hard when we first came the children had trouble as they spoke cockney and every one thought we were foreigners. I got a job at Black and Decker's and had various other jobs. I gave up work to look after Tom and his father. I joined the Mothers Club 15 years ago I have made a lot of friends. I love living up here now. I have 3 daughters and 9 grandchildren.