G`day teachers and children,

My name is Gerry Martin. I am sixty one years old. I came to live in Australia in 1962. A retired Melbourne Firefighter, I live in the mountains in a little stone cottage in a place called Kobyboyn, Central Highlands, Victoria, Australia. I have sixteen acres of land, with lots of visiting wildlife. I have two quite revolting looking little pug dogs, who snore quite a lot! Adder and Zac. God! They are ugly!!

I was born in Crofton Rd., Milton, Portsmouth. My father was a master builder and my mum was Irish farmer's daughter. In those days families were much larger. I was the youngest of nine children. Consequently we were not what you could say rich, but we never seemed to go without. There was lots and lots of laughter, and heaps of cuddles.

What is the first thing you can remember? My earliest days are rather hazy. I can remember the smells of fresh baked bread, hot milk ovaltine, and rain on a hot day.

The second World War changed everything. We in Britain were not prepared for what happened. Everything we called progress came to a sudden stop. Electric, wireless,motor cars, trucks and lorries all seemed to disappear overnight!

Iron railings on the front walls of houses were cut off and taken away to be transformed into tanks and bombs.

Some things that happened were quite fun to us kids.

Milk and bread were delivered by horse and cart. It was really something to have a ride up on the cart. I can clearly remember a great big "Foden" steam traction engine towing a trailer full of huge barrels of beer and unloading them into the cellar of the pub on the corner of Winter & Goldsmith Ave.

Some of the corporation double decker buses used to have a trailer with a fire in it making coal gas with a pipe going up to a huge silver coloured bag on the roof of the bus where it was stored to run the bus instead of using petrol.

In those times we had double summer time which meant it stayed light until about 11 pm.!!

At the outbreak of the war we were living in Alverstone Rd. After one nasty air raid a bomb landed quite close by and damaged a few houses including ours. So we moved to 54 Carisbrooke Rd where we stayed until the end of the war.

The sky was always full of barrage balloons.... massive great silver things that reminded me of elephants without their trunks. These were attached to the ground with thick steel cables. The idea being to stop the German bombers coming in too low.

The council provided corrugated iron air raid shelters to everybody. We had to put them up, or in our case, put them under the ground in the gardens of the houses. There were several Public shelters in the park where you could go if caught in a raid.

I recall little blue vans that used park on a corner with a nurse that used to give us injections and a huge spoon full to the top with cod liver oil and orange juice!! It just looked like a raw egg, and tasted really `orrible!!! All us kids used to hide when the van was sighted,and all you could hear was threats of what a hiding we will get when we do come out!

Other blue vans use to set up in Milton Park and show newsreels and films on a screen on the side of the van.

Many a time I watched soldiers and sailors and ladies dancing at the rotunda. Up on the centre stage there would be a big Royal Marines Band playing dance music. None of the Rock and Roll, I must admit. They did what they called the Jitterbug. I guess that could have been the start of it all, though!

One Saturday morning my Dad gave me a second hand "all steel" pedal car. I really loved that bloomin` thing. Can you imagine my feelings after just a few minutes playing in it, the Air Raid warning sounded (a continuous wailing). We all ran for the shelter. After the All Clear there was a gigantic lump of concrete about the size of a Volkswagon that had flown through the air from the tennis courts in Milton Park and landed right on top of my pedal car!!!!! Mr Hitler wasn't a popular man at all!!