For Memories
Tom Holloway (xuegx@CSV.WARWICK.AC.UK)
Sat, 28 Mar 1998 10:20:50 +0000
Tom this wasrejected by maelstrom not likingmy short address.
Please fowward to list.
To: MEMORIES@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 20:35:05
Subject: Re: Questions for the Panel of Elders
From: horace@hbasham.pl.net (Horace A. Basham)
To Sophie A & Chris
at Oakhill school
>From Horace A. Basham ex RAF engineer.
>From oakhill school
>
>What was your school like?
I was not in school when War broke out. I had left to start work at
the age of forteen. But my old school was a two storey long
building divided into two sections. One for boys and the other for
girls. I have no idea how it faired during the war.
>Were you in an air raid?
I was in many air raids in Eastend of London from the beginning to
the time I was in the RAF and many a time when home on leave.
>If you was in an air raid where did you go?
Most times we resorted to the Anderson shelter in the back garden of
our home. The Anderson shelter was a heavy gauge corrigated iron
affare buried half way in the ground and covered with layers of dirt
and sand bags. Each shelter of this type was made to a size to
accommodate the size of the family.
>What did you get for rationing?
We had the usual staple foods that has been discribed by Kees.
Sugar and sweets were virtually non existant in Britain.
>What did you have to eat?
We had a fair variety of foods that made up a balanced diet
that proved generally very healthy.
>What did you do when there was an air raid?
Depending where one was at work or at home. The severity of the
raid we took to the air raid shelters. After a time we did not take
shelter at all. It did not appear appropiate.
>How did you spend your time?
While I was at home I spent time out socializing with friends at the
local YMCA club. And the Air Training Corp. I was a keen ballroom
dancer.
>Did your parents have to go away and fight?
No my father was a First World War veteran and too old to fight in
the WW2, also he worked in the East London Docks on maintenance.
>What did you play?
Before I entered the RAF I was a cadet in the Air Training Corp. I
attended drill/band practices (I played a French Cavalry trumpet)
attended classes for Maths. and engineering. There were many big
parades in and around London where the Band was engaged to play, and
one time a recording session at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios..
>Was your house damaged in an air raid?
The house we lived in at out break of war was blast damged. We
moved to another house some way away. Which also was blast damaged
or became unstable. I was not living at home then.
>
> From Sophie A & Chris
> at Oakhill school
>
----- End of forwarded message from Horace A. Basham ----- now
living in New Zealand.