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I was nearly 12 when the war started and my twin sister and I went to Rayleigh Secondary School (now called Fitzwimarc School). We were issued with gas masks which we had to bring to school every day.
There were two large dug-outs (air raid shelters) built on the school playing field, one for boys and one for girls. The male teachers were in charge of the boys and the girls had lady teachers. Every time the siren sounded, we left the classrooms to go down to the shelters and were not allowed out until the all clear.
We used to sing a lot in the shelter and play games on paper or play cats cradle (a game with string). If the teachers weren鈥檛 looking, we varnished each others nails. There were 2 long benches facing each other, a couple of Elsen toilets at the end, and an escape hatch opposite the toilets. Sometimes we went down 3 times a day even if they turned out to be a false alarm. We prayed that if would happen during our maths lesson!
Various other memories from my schooldays鈥 remember we children being measured and weighed at school to see if we鈥檇 qualify for extra clothing coupons. I took umbrage when I was told that I didn鈥檛 qualify and my twin sister did. Eventually, I did get extra clothing coupons. We had evacuees from Chingford and Woodford schools, so we were a bit crowded, 2 or 3 to a desk. I also remember one day going down Victoria Road to collect rosehips to make a vitamin syrup for babies. Also, some military personnel one time brought round some willow branches to our school and we were shown how to make wattle hurdles for camouflage.

Our school was commandeered for a few weeks by a regiment of Bren-gun carriers, which were like small tanks, and they churned up our playground. We had soldiers billeted all round town in empty houses. We had a kilted Scottish regiment that used to march through the high street to church parades with the bagpipes and drums playing. There was an army camp at the bottom of Raweth Lane and I remember they had anti-aircraft guns. There was also a searchlight battery located at the top of Hambro Hill. There they built a huge searchlight made up of lots of small mirrors and light bulbs, surrounded by a huge ring of corrugated metal. This we only saw after the war.

We left school at 14 years old and our first job was in a horticultural nursery, which was a reserved occupation. We got an extra cheese ration for working on the land, growing mostly salad vegetables. Otherwise, we could have been sent to work in a munitions factory. My eldest sister was sent to work in the Pye radio factory in Cambridge and my other sister was sent to work in Leigh, making barrage balloons. She used to come home reeking of rubber. She was later sent to work at Hoffman鈥檚 in Chelmsford, which was a prime target for bombers. When the German planes came over we used to hear the big anti-aircraft guns at Shoebury Garrison first and you could see the puffs of smoke where they exploded. You could see the barrage balloons go up all along the estuary. The fighter planes from Rochford aerodrome went up first and then North Weald and Hornchurch (these being mainly Spitfires).

One night a German bomber dropped a stick of 14 bombs, which landed on fields reaching from the Chase to Hockley Woods. Only a few cows, belonging to Mr. Beckwith鈥檚 dairy herd, located in Nelson Road, were killed. It blew out the window by my bed and the gas bracket fell on my legs. On another occasion, myself and a few girls were working on the nursery fields when what we thought was a German fighter came low over us and it looked as though it鈥檚 tail was alight. We all cheered when it dropped down and exploded on a field over Wickford. It wasn鈥檛 until we went home for lunch that we heard on the radio that they sending over flying bombs, my first experience of Doodlebugs. Another time, a friend at work said 鈥淚鈥檓 fed up, I wish something exciting would happen鈥漚nd that night a bomb was dropped down Daws Heath Road and her house was demolished. She was only wearing a short vest and the fireman who rescued her told her to hop on his back to get a piggyback, to escape the rubble. Yet another night, another friend was coming home after a dance at the Weir Hotel when some bombs were dropped along the High Road, demolishing several houses. A poor man was running round naked so she gave him her new coat that she had recently bought with her precious clothing coupons. A few more people were killed that night, including a young girl, named Alison Picken, about 16 years old, who had been a pupil at our school and was our headmaster鈥檚 secretary. He was terribly upset. Her mother was killed too.

One morning I was walking to work, arm in arm, with 2 friends. It was pitch dark and we were on early shift at 6am, but we were late. We were swung round by a terrific blast and hit our heads on Mrs. Hart鈥檚 cottage wall. Then there was an almighty explosion. When we got to our little factory, just past King George鈥檚 field entrance, we found all the windows smashed, but no one was hurt. Just further along, at Queen鈥檚 Parade, the shops had all lost their roofs.

One night our family was woken up by ARP wardens, who said we all had to be evacuated at once to Love Lane school, as an unexploded para-mine had dropped in Fairview playing fields, near the Hockley Road entrance. My mother, myself and 3 sisters were picked up by Mr. Noakes in his lorry, with other women and children from Hambro Hill. We were given mattresses to lay on, but my father鈥檚 friend who had a shoe shop in the high street put us up for the night. My father went back in the morning to feed the chickens and rabbits and the sentry let him through. A naval bomb disposal unit dismantled the mine and we all went back to see it. It was a huge cylinder, 8 ft long by 2 ft, on a silk parachute, with huge ropes of plaited silk. I was given a piece of the rope.

We were all issued identity cards at the beginning of the war and had to show them if we wished to go into Southend, which was a restricted area. An RAF regiment was billeted at Rochford and our buses used to be stopped by their sentries at Warner鈥檚 Bridge. If we hadn鈥檛 got our identity cards, we weren鈥檛 allowed into through. The beaches were covered in barbed wire. One night I was coming home on the train with a friend after having gone to the pictures. There was an air-raid on and the driver stopped the train under Warner鈥檚 Bridge, as the aerodrome was under attack. The noise was frightening as the planes were diving about and machine gunning, and the men were shouting orders on guns and searchlights. I didn鈥檛 tell my mother how bad it had been when I got home.

One day in December 1944, I was surprised to see my father waiting at the bus stop when I got home from work. He told me that my brother-in-law had been reported missing, shot down over Germany. He was a path-finder on Lancasters and my sister, who was living with us, was expecting his baby. That baby is now 60 and this year has been to visit his father鈥檚 grave in Germany. We were so relieved when the war was ended, we built a hugh bonfire in the High Street and everybody dance around it.

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