Alan Day remembers his war years

My Grandfather was a School Caretaker and during the War looked after two Schools; Albany Road, near Camberwell Green and Mawbey Road School, off The Old Kent Road.

My earliest recollection was walking into a room full of toys; bikes, pedal cars etc. in Albany Road School and choosing a pedal car to play on. I remember clearly being stuck in the slope of the playground which led to a drain and I was not strong enough to pedal the car out of it. That School was flattened by a German Bomb in about 1943. (when I was three). I spent a lot of time at my Grandparents Caretaker House.

My Father joined the RAF when the War started. He was an electrical genius all his life, at one time teaching Electronics at the London Polytechnic. He left to go to War when I was just born and I did not see him again until I was nearly five.

We lived in The Chase, Clapham SW4 . My Mother walked everywhere and we regularly went to see her parents at Mawbey Road and she walked all the way, with me either in the pram or walking by her side. My Grandfather continued to work at Mawbey Road. His main job was to try to prevent lead being pinched from the roof. As the war progressed the School became home to hundreds of Polish ex- Servicemen.

They looked after me well if I wandered in there, particularly the cooks, who gave me cakes, a real treat for me as rationing normally prevented such luxuries. The Chase is situated just off the Wandsworth Road one end and the posher end was Clapham Common. Our end was approximately half way between Clapham Junction, a Major German Target and the Armaments Factory which was situated near Nine Elms, about the Thessaly Road area. Some may remember The Granada, Wandsworth Road, that is the approximate area. As we were between these targets, my poor mother had to wake me up on a regular basis and take me down to the Air Raid Shelter, a corrugated tin bunker sunk into the ground half way down our back garden.

My Mother told me I constantly cried and I wet the bed up to the age of seven - only four years before I joined the Elliott. A major problem for my Mother on her own with very little money and an awkward child to look after, with bombs dropping all around us.

The situation got so bad I was sent by train to Wolverhampton with other children and that created other problems. Mothers and Children were offered accommodation by people who had no experience of what this was about, or what we had already gone through. In the first week a door was left open and I got out in the street and was promptly knocked over by a chap on a push bike. That caused one hell of a row between my Mother and the lady who we stayed with. Shortly after, I remember being in the front of a car and the brakes being slammed on and my head smashing against the windscreen.

It was shortly after this that we moved back to The Chase and back to the Air Raid Sirens. Towards the latter part of the War The Doodlebugs came over. You could hear quite clearly the high pitched whistle which went lower in pitch as it went over. If that whistle stopped you were in deep trouble. This happened during one of my Mother’s walks, this time to Arding and Hobbs, Clapham Junction . We had just reached the corner when the sirens went off. The only place to hide was the Shoe Shop opposite Arding and Hobbs, in their basement. An enormous bomb went off and the whole of the area shook.

My Mother and many of the other Women with us started screaming, it was such a near miss. When we got the All Clear, coming out of the shop there was utter devastation. Every window in Arding and Hobbs was broken and even though I was still very young I remember being shocked by what I saw. The devastation around Battersea and The Old Kent Road was unbelievable. Shortly after the War, I remember King George visiting the area and being very moved by what he and the Queen Mother to be, saw. The crowds were about ten deep down the whole length of The Old Kent Road. I was in the front.

Many of you will know the boating lake on Clapham Common and what is now the Netball Courts, that was where the guns were situated, the others being at the start of the Common at Battersea Rise. When the War ended I was awaken by searchlights sweeping the sky, I thought the Germans were coming again and screamed at the top of my voice.

Most of my life I hated the Germans, but gradually time heals. I recently played in our band for some dances in The Leipzig Folk Festival, East Germany. They were friendly, some lovely, just the odd few a little strange (possibly X Gestapo - only joking ) I became very emotional when dancing with a lovely German girl .Just a short while ago I would have been pleased if we had hit the area with a bomb.

Many of the children at Elliott at the time I was there could have told similar stories of the War, I was not the only one a bit mixed up when I joined.

Alan Day 1951 - 56