Oral history transcripts "We finished the day shall we say half past four or five, went home, had your tea, and came back here two hours later, straight on duty and you went into the Oddfellows Hall if there was nothing else happening. And we stayed there, there was a little bar, you had a drink and you could play billiards or snooker. But we had to stay there all night so by the time it got to 10 or 11 o'clock, we were nodding a little bit. so there was a very large room with mattresses on the floor so what you did was lay down on the mattress maybe with just one little bit of cover, you stayed dressed of course, and had a rest. You'd just get down and just nodded off and the damned sirens went. And then as soon as that happened you'd spring into action, "Everybody out!" whistles blowing, dashing down outside, "Get in the tunnels," "Get that ruddy light out!" Look at that car over there, the police would be round too and you could hear the enemy aircraft overhead." "The wardens were characters at the door. I remember one tubby guy and he seemed to always be here. And he always had a joke and a laugh and he seemed to be permanent, sat there at the stove obviously with the mug of tea in his hand and I got the impression he part of the fixtures and fittings. I can't recall his name but he was always like the Father Christmas of that particular area."