The War Years

Mother: Florence Eveline Jenner aka Eva Baglin (1901-1994) and
Daughter: Grace Russ (1933-2006)

Share Their War Time Experience: 2nd World War (1939-1945)

• Eva, "Grace knows about the war years - She'd tell you how we used to get in and out of that shelter."

• Grace, "Yeh - They were exciting times - But you spent most of the war in the Havens shelter."

• Eva, "Yeh - we did, Cus theirs was so much nicer - she'd say about that now, if she meets you."

• Grace, "We had an Anderson one - It was quite small, and partly buried in the ground. Theirs was a brick built one - like a garage - which had lights, benches, a radio and things like that.

• "Eva, "Yeh - but they had theirs by the house, and if a bomb had gone off, we wouldn't have been safe though."

• Grace, "No - ours was by the house once! But we must have moved it - as later on it was down the end of the garden by the greenhouse. That was the time Grandpa Jenner came up for dinner, and during the evening we were in the shelter during a raid. There was a lot of, sort of bomb flack, and what not - and Grandpa Jenner kept opening the door to see what was happening, and Gran Jenner kept telling him to shut the door. There we were - me and Grandpa Jenner trying to see out to see what was happening, and everyone else trying to keep the door from opening."

• Eva, "Yeh - that's right and one time I had to stay in the house during a raid cus our cat was having blessed kittens."

• Grace, "Yeh - and I know our dad didn't go down every time either."

• Eva, "And sometimes we'd put you under the piano and push the table over to it - And then we'd put our heads under the table with our backsides sticking out. I used to think that to be so funny. But our Ken was thrown-down by a blast once, the sleeve from his suit was all blown-off, and he was all shaken up - Otherwise he was alright, although he didn't want to go to work after that. Then there was the aeroplane that came down by Manor Park, Fishponds."

• Grace, "Yes, I remember that. I also remember the time grandfather Jenner looked up at a plane while he was on his bicycle and went into a ditch - the lid from one of his tins of paints came off, and the paint went all over him - He was a painter and decorator at the time."

• Eva, "Yes, and that was it, when we all sat on that wall watching some planes going over - I think you was with us then - We looked up and said "Ou-ah, there's a lovely lot of planes" - Until we saw the swastikas on them. Then we all scattered like mad. They dropped a bomb and some incendiary devices, they all landed in the railway embankment, and fortunately none of them went off. We had to be ready to be evacuated in an emergency, you know. We prepared - ready to be hooked out of our windows quickly, but it never happened."

• Grace, "The best thing I can remember about the war was the `British Restaurants' - they sprouted up everywhere, didn't they, like mushrooms. And you could get - sort of cheap meals there - like subsidised meals - it was smashing. I can remember my dad taking me to one - In Castle Street I think."

• Eva, " - where the main shopping centre was. And then there was that raid while we were in the Salvation Army Hall - singing the halleluiah chorus. We weren't allowed to leave cus there was a terrific lot of flack around - that could kill you, you know. So we kept on singing - mind you we were worried about Grace, we were on the platform and she was in the main Hall - we wondered if we could get to her in time if anything happened."

• Grace, "Yes, and I remember that exciting night, on the Sunday, when we came out - And looked down towards Bristol and saw the sky was all bright red - that was really exciting - that."

• Eva, "Yeh - and it was awful."

• Grace, "That was the night the Bristol Blitz started, it lasted for several days."

• Eva, "And if it had started on the Saturday night I would have been in that - Cus Ted and I used to go into town every Saturday night. Many a time, everybody had to dive under the shop counters during raids. Then there was that time when a bus load of school children going up Clifton way had a direct hit - Oh it was so dreadful, all the children were killed."

• Grace, "And there was that time when a coach load of people from Yate, I think, went up this way - everybody on board seemed to have blood pouring from them."

• Eva, "Yeh - it was so awful - though they were exciting times - they were."

• Grace, "It was - It was really exciting."