The wartime voices

• Iris Baker was a child during the war. She was evacuated, but spent some of the war at home near Clapham Junction.
• Rose Barker worked in a factory assembling communication equipment for planes and tanks.
• Alec Bregonzi was 9 at the beginning of the war. He was evacuated, but spent holidays at home in Wandsworth.
• Joan Burgess was a child during the war and lived in Old York Road, Wandsworth.
• Alan Buss was a child of 8 at the start of war and was evacuated, but was at home on holiday in the summer of 1940 when the blitz began.
• Patrick Child was aged 8 when war broke out. His family’s business was in Wandsworth High Street.
• Olive Chinchen was 16 at the start of the war and already at work. Her sister and brother in law were killed in a doodlebug raid in 1944.
• Margaret Clark was a child of 9 when war started. She was evacuated initially, but like many children, returned to London later.
• Ronnie Elliott was a young boy at the start of the war. His father was killed in an air raid in 1940. He did national service in the RAF after the war had ended.
• Irene Lavin was a young married woman with a small child who lived and worked in Battersea throughout the war.
• Eliza Mason was a mother of young children during the war.
• H.M. was 15 when war broke out. In May 1940 she got a job at the War Office in Marsham Street and remembers commuting to work throughout the blitz.
• Minnie Perry was a young married woman with a daughter and lived and worked in Tooting. Her home in Nutwell Street was damaged by a rocket blast.
• Alan Phillips was almost 19 when war started. He was registered as a conscientious objector and worked throughout the war as a porter at Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables, Putney. He and a friend were buried in the cellar of his home during a doodlebug raid.
• Ethel Robinson was interviewed as part of a Battersea Arts Centre Project entitled "Wandsworth Women's Working Lives" and this extract is taken from her memories, "A Cottage by the Wandle".
• Winifred Salisbury was 22 at the outbreak of war and joined the Auxiliary Fire Service based in Battersea Park Road.
• Mary Smith lived in Earlsfield and was employed in a factory in Buckhold Road manufacturing boilers and parts of Bailey bridges as part of the war effort. Her home was damaged in a doodlebug raid.
• Rose Wingrove was aged 11 at the outbreak of war. In 1940 her home in Longhedge Street was damaged by a bomb and she and her family had to live in a school in Battersea Park Road for eight weeks.
• Elsie Young served as an ARP warden based at Battersea Town Hall. Her memories were recorded by Battersea Arts Centre as part of a celebration of the Town Hall’s centenary.

Wandsworth Museum Oral History Project
All the quotes used in this exhibition are taken from Wandsworth Museum's oral history collection.

This is a voluntary project with participants being interviewed by trained volunteers. Over the past 10 years the museum has built up an archive of taped memories of life in the borough throughout the past century. We always welcome enquiries from anyone wishing to be involved.

Thank you to all those who have given their time to enable this exhibition to take place.

This exhibition has been researched and compiled by oral history volunteer, Cerys Williams. Wandsworth Museum staff would like to thank Cerys for all her work.