By Isle of Wight Observer
As I celebrate my 90th Birthday, and after 53 years in local councils, I can reflect on growing up in Sandown before and during World War II, with a King on the throne then and now.
Living in Sandown, with my grandparents, most of the war years, going to school at Broadway School (the site now home to Sandown Town Council), near the family business, I can remember bombing raids, probably en-route to Portsmouth and Southampton, with explosions at St Boniface, near to the radar stations.
We slept in our neighbours’ outside shelter, or under a specially constructed metal table, and I can remember my Father going indoors to collect a white lilac plant for luck – it represents spiritual enlightenment.
Dad was also in the Royal Observer Corps, and we would practise identifying enemy planes from their silhouettes and outlines; we even knew Japanese planes, even though we didn’t think they could fly that far; and my aunts served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service – the ATS – on the mainland.
Although we lived near the Pier (strategically cut to prevent the enemy landing), swimming was limited to Eastern Gardens, as the rest of the beach had barriers and other protective constructions. We had a gun turret on the lawn outside of where we lived, so we were very aware of the war, although there was such a community spirit and sense of togetherness, we had many memorable moments.
The Government requisitioned our cafe, now home to Flanaghan’s, and it provided a base for the army with sentries on duty 24/7, in front of concrete girders, with the American Army billeted at the Royal Pier Hotel. During training at Culver, for the D-Day landings, the hotel housed the Canadian Royal Scottish Regiment, which upset my grandmother as they played the bagpipes at 6am in the morning. On the positive side, mainly because we provided refreshments to our war-time visitors, we were given a weekly banana and other treats.
I remember going to Ryde, and seeing German prisoners of war tending the allotments, and bringing home to me the reality of the war.
Also the local fishmonger provided fish caught in the Bay, as the anglers were allowed out through the security measures. We got our milk from the dairy in (I think) Wilkes Road, and we got our news listening to the BBC on the wireless.
Rationing was always a part of my early live, and I often think we were healthier as a nation then. Sweets were a rare treat, many foods were scarce, and coal-based heating was something to be cherished. Many people forget rationing carried on after cessation of hostilities – rationing for soap ended in 1950, tea 1952, sweets and sugar 1953, food 1954 and coal in 1958!
After Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, and the USA joining the war, confidence grew in Sandown and across the Island, and in the early 1940s there was a growing expectation that times were about to change. Churchill’s Britain, with the Commonwealth and other allies, would go on the offensive.
D-Day was long awaited, with military momentum bringing a forward-looking attitude, and, although VE-Day was anticipated when peace in Europe arrived on May 8, 1945, the sound of church bell chimes was liberating. The town celebrated and prepared for the programme of renewal and re-building that was to follow.
As part of the post-war period, with demobilisation my wider family returned to the Island. Events like Sandown Carnival, which I’ve been involved with since re-starting after the conflict, restarted and remain part of the family-friendly features that Sandown takes pride in annually. I can view it all from Pier Street where I have lived for over half a century.