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This story was given to Conor Garrett and transcribed by Elizabeth Lamont

STORY 4 — JUNE CURRY

Remember when the sirens went off and my father put us under the stairs as usual but our house shook and he pulled us all out and took us over to the shelter and it was only half-made. There was a big hole in the wall. That’s what we sat in all night.

I remember being evacuated to Saintfield — my Mother hated it. They told us there was a house in Saintfield and there was just one person lived in it. It was the farmer himself. We were living in the Castlereagh Road in Belfast here and they said it was dangerous so I used to go down. We never really liked it. Ireland’s Corner, we went to in Saintfield Road — I can remember the name of it. Ireland’s Corner just before you came into Saintfield — a big farmhouse — I must have been 13 — coming into 14 — but none of us liked it. Three sisters and two brothers and myself. We were going down in the bus just. I remember the first time — it was just a bare room. You know what an old man’s like living on his own — a big farmhouse. And the fire was done — it wasn’t coal or anything — it was just big branches and things. It was terrible to go into but we had to stay for a wee while. I think we were only up about three months. Mother couldn’t stick it. I think we must have been left school for we didn’t go to school up there. But we helped the old farmer scrub his floors — I can remember that — and I hated that, I really did — it was terrible. But, like, we had nothing to do only play out in the fields. And we were used to the town — it was a bad existence for three months. We lived in the same rooms, you know, and we were always cold. There was no heat — it was just a big, open fire — we sat on the floor on the mattress. That’s all you had. It was grim, I’m telling you. I can realise now why my Mother, like, got up so quick — for she just got up one morning and she says “I don’t care if Hitler’s sitting on my roof — we’re going home” — and home we went.

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