Wartime Memories: Cake After Sirens and Dogfights Recalled by Care Home Residents

Tony Fayers’ most prominent memory of the Blitz during World War Two is that “Mum always made cake after the sirens ended.” He further explained, “She always put on the kettle and she always had a scone or something so we could celebrate we survived,” he said. On Remembrance Day, residents of the Signature at Caversham care home in Berkshire have been sharing their recollections of WW2 with the BBC. Julian Berrisford remembered observing a dogfight—a battle between two planes—above his garden on “a very nice sunny day.” The 91-year-old stated, “I watched as these two fighters flew towards one another and they ended up having a collision.” He added, “The wreckage of the planes ended up a couple of fields away from where I was standing.” After the wreckage was retrieved, he went “scouring in the field” and discovered some live ammunition, which he subsequently brought to school. He recounted, “[We] got into trouble because we were throwing them at one another and they were still live,” he said. David North, 89, mentioned he recalled making a “dash for the table” when he heard the distinct sound of doodlebugs. He affirmed, “I have many memories of the Blitz on London… mainly of the doodlebugs.” North described the nature of these rockets: “It was the rockets you could hear coming because they were fairly slow and your concern was when the sound stopped and you knew then that the rockets were coming down.” He continued, “So you made a dash for the table, or you made a dash to get out the way or seek shelter.” He stated that he remembered relatives in their early twenties who died in the war. “I remember as a six-year-old child dashing under their bed when they were staying with us and when I came to ask ‘where are they’ a few months later I was told they weren’t coming back,” he said. He confirmed that they were “most certainly” on his mind on Remembrance Day. “There’s so many people who gave their lives,” he remarked. He concluded, “They gave their lives for us to be where we are now.” Mr Fayers indicated that he and his family would take refuge under the kitchen table during bombing incidents. The 85-year-old commented on this action, saying, “Which would have done a fat lot of good but that’s what we did.” He noted that, despite not losing any relatives, WW2 was “very distressing,” and Remembrance Day held great importance. He articulated its significance: “It’s a good way of remembering what our friends and our relations and people we may or may not have known, what they did for the country,” he said. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.