- Contributed by听
- newcastlecsv
- People in story:听
- Esther Astley, Doris Atkinson, George Atkinson, Charlie Atkinson, Danny Atkinson, Belle Scott, Doris Blacklock, Rachel Atkinson
- Location of story:听
- Washington, Tyne and Wear
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4282779
- Contributed on:听
- 27 June 2005
During the Second World War, I had a sister, Belle, and a brother, Charlie. My name is Esther. We were all under six years old, and being brought up by my mother Doris Atkinson, who was profoundly deaf and dumb. She was a wonderful person, and our father, George William was an ambulance driver in the war, so I had two beautiful parents.
Our mother brought us up on her own during the war, in a downstairs flat and in the flat above lived our Aunt Rachel and family.
Because of our Mam's deafness, we needed to find a way of letting her know of any air raids during the night. Each night when we went to bed, our Mam slipped a loop of string over her big toe. The remainder of string stretched through our window, up the outside wall and into Aunt Rachel's window. When the siren sounded, our Aunt tugged at the string and Mam's leg was raised up and down! We then made our way down into the shelter.
In later years we got another sister, Doris, and a brother, Danny. Sadly our parents are no longer with us, but our precious memories live on.
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