Yeovil at war
Yeovil at war
The wartime Yeovil recollections of Pamela Amatt
Pamela Amatt nee Legge, was born in a tied cottage in Ilchester Road, Yeovil. Her father worked as a gardener for Pickett Witch House, at the time Pamela was born in 1930, the coal merchant Bradford family lived in the 'big house'. Pamela had five older sisters. When war came, Pamela and Joan were at school, Daphne lived in Westfield Grove with her husband, Tom, who helped to rescue people trapped in debris, Ethel was at Westlands, painting the wings of the planes and her husband, Reg, was an engineer at the factory. Mary moved to Exeter, where her husband Reg was stationed in the Army, she worked in a hat shop there. Dorothy worked for the Co-op grocery in the Triangle, Yeovil, whilst her husband, Ernie served in the army and later served in the Middle East. They all remembered the bombings on Yeovil, and in Mary's case the blitz of Exeter.
Once,
after an
air raid
near
Westlands,
an
unexploded
bomb
landed
in a
neighbours
garden
close to
the new
bungalow
where
Ethel
and Reg
lived in
Westbourne
Grove.
They
were
told to
evacuate,
so Reg
got the
car and
told
Ethel
"go into
the
house
and pick
up the
most
valuable
thing
you can
find",
so she
came
out,
shaken
and
shocked
with the
glass
fruit
bowl
which
was a
wedding
present.
Another
incident
happened
when
Dorothy
did her
bit by
being a
fire
warden
above
Jesty's
furniture
shop in
Middle
Street.
She was
there
one
night
with
other
staff
from the
Co-op
store,
they had
to sleep
on camp
beds.
This
particular
night,
the
siren
sounded
sending
the
wardens
onto the
roof
with
their
stirrup
pumps,
but they
soon
noticed
one of
their
number,
a Mrs
Old was
missing,
so they
went
back in
calling
for her.
Mrs Old
suddenly
popped
her head
up from
behind a
camp bed
and said
"cam
mind me
beeth"
or in
other
words
"can't
find my
teeth".
After
that,
they
alway
asked
Mrs Old,
"now do
you
remember
where
you put
your
teeth".
Reproduced from the BBC's "WW2 People's War" under the 'fair dealing' terms.
