Bomb site

Even though I was born in 1960 I still remember the bomb sites left over from the blitz of WWII. We had a really large one at the top of our turning, open to the elements with mountains of bricks and building rubble that, as little kids, we would clamber over and play games.

I look back and find that quite amusing. No health and safety in those days. My sister being 8 years older than me can remember personal things and effects being among all the rubble, but by the time I started playing on them most of that stuff had gone to be replaced by the locals unwanted rubbish. I was banned from playing there, quite obviously it was a dangerous place to play, but play there we did. Once I cut my knee very badly and went running to a friends Mum because my Mum would have given me a terrible telling off. We used to build camps or just root around in it.

Nowadays if that were to happen it would be immediately boarded off with huge notices proclaiming that it was a dangerous place for children to play. In fact, it wasn't until recently that it occurred to me that they were places where people had their homes bombed and where some may have died. I just took them for granted as they were always there. I never used to think about HOW or WHY they were there.

Eventually our favorite debris was cleared away and a new school was built there. My local primary school in fact. So the children continued to play on it and still do where the playground now is. There were lots of stories after the school was built about 'haunted toilets' a story that was doing the rounds even when my daughter attended there. Never saw a ghost, but did once witness along with another girl, the door handle going down,the door opening and then the door handle going back up and the door closing. There was a glass panel in the door and no one to be seen..............................