The context for my recollections
I was born in April 1937, and the family home was in Edmonton in north London.
Although my father (like many others) had been out of work for most of
1926 and off and on afterwards, by the time I was born he was in a steady
job. Indeed, in 1939, the year war was declared, my parents had been planning
their first overseas holiday, on a weekly wage of £5. How things have changed!
recollections of the start of the war in 1939
If you have an old photo which would illustrate
John's recollections, I would very much appreciate a copy.
Pat Cryer
Even when I was quite small, father would take me out for walks on Sunday mornings, and it was on
one of these walks, in September 1939, that I first heard an air raid siren.
We had been to Tatem's Park, in Edmonton, situated on the north west corner
of the junction of what is now the A10 and the A406, and were walking home along
Hedge Lane, approaching the 'Cambridge' roundabout - since repositioned and very
much enlarged. For some years, during the 1970's, the houses alongside the Cambridge
Pub, which gave the roundabout its name, were bought up and remained empty in
preparation for the alterations. Anyway, just as we were passing underneath
the (presumably newly installed) siren, it went off. An intermittent wail meant
that planes were coming and to take cover, and a continuous wail sounded the
'all clear'. I think it was actually on September 3rd, the day when war was
declared, and I think it must have been a test, or perhaps it was to signal
the declaration. Anyway, we hurried home.
Nothing much happened on the Edmonton home front during the rest of 1939,
as far as I recall. I remember a discussion about evacuation, and my
parents' decision
that we would all stay together at home. At that time I was an only child. The
house, a terraced house in
Cheddington Road
on the Huxley Estate in Edmonton,
was small, but snug and comfortable, and we had a happy life. If my parents
were worried about the war they didn't show it. The only thing of particular
note was that my father repositioned the door into my bedroom so that it was
immediately next to theirs instead of being along the landing.

This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as
Join me in the 1900's and is ©
Pat Cryer.