COUNSELLING! WHAT'S THAT?

Submitted by - Barry Walker



I remember when war was declared on a September Sunday morning And the siren wailing through the air to give us all the warning. Sitting in the Anderson shelter with a foot of water all around And listening to my mother pray as the bombs fell on the ground.


It was a nightly ritual as down the Anderson we would go Hearing planes throb overhead, we soon learnt who was the foe. Two houses we lost during the Blitz and lots of personal stuff, Our life was very traumatic but it made us extremely tough.


The devastation that we saw when all the dock's were afire With remains of friends and neighbours it was like a funeral pyre. The realisation of having no home and becoming an evacuee, And being herded on a train like cattle for all the world to see.


Our journey was quite hazardous while travelling on the train Because 'Jerry' decided to machine gun us over and over again. And then we faced the trauma of being pushed from pillar to post While traipsing round a strange town to find someone to be our host.
But we made it through the bad times and learnt to laugh once more Because everyone helped each other whether they were rich or poor. There was no counselling in those days, no help out of the pit You picked yourself up, dusted yourself down and just got on with it.



(C) M.M.W.