Nostalgia with Margaret Watson: Ronnie Ellis’s memoirs part one: The outbreak of World War II

Margaret Watson writes: Ronnie, who will be remembered as the local milkman for many years, has decided to write his memoirs in which he recalls his army service which took him to Scotland, the Middle East, and to his great surprise a posting in Dewsbury.

The first line of his memoirs reads:

“In September, 1939, war with Germany was declared, and the first night the air raid warning sirens sounded, it threw everyone in turmoil.

“Dad, mother, my sister Margery and myself dressed and dashed on to Granddad Ellis’s, who had a nice-sized arched cellar where we’d arranged to shelter from air raids. After a couple of hours the all-clear sounded and we all went home to bed.

“At the top of Caulms Wood on the edge of Hanging Heaton Golf Course, the Royal Artillery built an anti-aircraft gun site, and the guns were in action on many occasions as German bombers made their way to bomb Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Leeds.

“On the night of November 12, 1940, a German bomber got through the Ack-Ack gunfire from Caulms Wood and other gun emplacements in the West Riding.

“Bombs were dropped on each side of the railway viaduct near Batley Railway Station, most of which didn’t explode, but one high explosive bomb fell in Mount Pleasant killing a soldier who was stationed in Batley.

“Another Bomb fell near Batley Grammar School with little damage. Incendiary bombs fell in Well Lane and on Bradford Road bringing down Ineson’s warehouse, Calverley’s Mill and the Ambulance station.

“Bombs also fell in Dewsbury, killing a man who was fire watching at an office in Wakefield Road as well as shattering most of the shop windows in the town centre.

“Dad was on street fire party duty further down Commonside and kept coming back to see if we were all okay.

“Uncle Fred was a volunteer ambulance casualty driver and was called out at the end of the raid. He set off in his car for Lamplands Grange which was their headquarters and it took him ages to get there because of the fog.

“Not knowing the full details of the air raid, I set off for school as usual next morning only to be turned back at the bottom of Mill Lane by the Home Guard.

“All the unexploded bombs had not been located, many of which had dropped in Batley Sewage works. The last bomb was located in 1957 when the sewage works closed.

“If all the bombs dropped had exploded, the viaduct and the railway line would have been gonners.

“In 1941 each family, who had room available, was issued with an Anderson shelter, consisting of several sections of strong ribbed heavy metal bolted together and sunk into the ground. They were covered over with earth and sandbags to protect from bomb blasts.

“My Granddad Bramley was a dab hand at Do-it-Yourself and, with dad built a double shelter using his and our Anderson sections.

“He completely buried the shelter, made steps down to it and put two bunks inside plus bench seats with lids on, in which we kept supplies in case our homes were destroyed.,

“We had oil lamps, torches, blankets, and almost everything we needed in an emergency. We spent many hours in the shelter listening to the bombers going over and our local Ack-Ack guns blasting away.

“Life as a milkman meant getting up at 6am, collecting milk in 12 gallon churns from Elliot’s Farm at Shaw Cross and delivering the previous night’s milk bottled in broad top pint and half pint bottles with cardboard press centres, to the Chidswell and Hanging Heaton areas”.

In 1941, the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign was announced and the government urged everyone who could to start growing as much food as possible.

Ronnie remembers his family being lucky in that they already had their own allotment as well as spare land to build a second one.

He had also kept show rabbits, so when rationing was introduced early in the war, he bought some Belgium hares and Flemish giant rabbits to breed for the table.

“I used to spend hours gathering dandelions to feed them, and having so many farming friends, was able to pick up the odd sack of oats or wheat to help feed our live stock.

“Another source of food for the poultry was potato peelings and vegetable waste mixed with our small ration of dry meal, and our neighbours saved us their waste in return for a few eggs.

“We were also able to get gleanings from the farms who supplied us with milk which enabled us to rear more poultry and produce more eggs to swap for a little extra meat or groceries.

“One of my old teachers at Mill Lane School, Denis Blamires, started a youth group at the school on Fridays and Sundays where we had snooker, table tennis and dancing to records.

“In early 1942 I joined 185 Squadron Air Training Corps, based up Hick Lane with the intention of joining the RAF when my turn came to be called up.

“In 1943, the whole squadron had a week’s camp at Snaith Aerodrome, an operational airfield, where Halifax bombers flew on nightly raids over Germany and occupied Europe

“The casualties in Bomber Command were very heavy but the aircrew at Snaith were always cheerful, and when we asked about a certain officer we knew, they would say: “Oh, he bought it last night.”

Ronnie received his call-up papers in October 1944 and reported to the P.T.C, Fort George, Inverness, the Seaforth Highlanders’ depot. As he said: ‘So much for the training done in the Air Training Corps’.

Next week Ronnie, who still lives in Hanging Heaton with wife Catherine, writes about his posting to Dewsbury.