Evacuee now living in Northampton recalls watching missiles heading towards family home during Second World War

Beryl Harper, 89, has been living in parts of Northampton for almost 50 years but the life she's lead in this town is miles away on land and in nature from where she grew up in Great Yarmouth.

Beryl was born in 1931 after her parents moved back home from Canada to Norfolk in 1927 to a frosty reception after what they thought would be a new beginning working on the railway lines.

When war broke out in 1939, the family were living on the coast, which became an easy target for the German aircraft she recalls flying over to bomb London.

"We had a lot of devastation during the war years," she said. "My dad had been called up and was in the navy, he spoke little of his experiences, he was a gunner on his ship and one of his engagements was escorting the convoys of small ships over to Dunkirk during the D-Day landings.

"He was badly injured but I never heard him complain. As young as I was I still remember his service number, jx2557391, to me he was a hero."

Beryl and her brother and sister stayed in Great Yarmouth until 1941 until they were told they had to be evacuated from their homes as the bombings got worse.

She added: "I was so upset as I wanted to go with them; we had led a very sheltered life, never had holidays, outings, meals out as children expect today and we had never even been on a bus.

"Off went my sister and brother with their gas masks around their necks and labels on their coats, my sister was fostered with a school friend in Farndon, in Nottinghamshire and my poor brother was sent to a farm in Stoke.

"He hated it, rebelled and wanted to go back home. Eventually, my mother fetched him and he remained in Yarmouth for the duration of the war. "

Beryl was taken to Windsor to live with her grandmother but after a few months her sister’s foster mother, a religious lady who lost her husband and young son, agreed to taken her in.

Here Beryl walked two miles to school before passing her 11 plus but the high school in Great Yarmouth had been evacuated to Retford, which meant she had to live with another family who had three children of their own for 18 months.

"We returned home to a devastated town and we were unable to go to the beaches as there were land mines on them and all the sea front was cordoned off with barbed wire," she said.

"This was the time that we were then attacked with doodle bugs or v2 flying bombs; they flew over the coast in 1944 to bomb London. In November 1944 a v2 hit a Woolworths store in London killing 168 people.

"My sister and I used to lie in bed and watch these missiles coming towards us as our room faced the sea. We would shoot out of bed fly down the stairs and fall into the Anderson shelter in our garden. My mother had made it all cosy with bunks, gas lamps, and paraffin heaters but it was terrifying as the minute the engines stopped on the bombs they would fall to the ground and explode. All the front of our house was taken out with these explosions. "

The Second World War ended in September 1945, when she saw her dad return home.

"We all settled back into our lives again," she added. "Much wiser and grateful to think we had survived through six years of war."

Beryl left school early to look after her poorly mum while her sister went into work in a knitting shop and brother joined work in the catering industry.

Later on her first job was in a chemist where she earned £1 per week, and she had to give her mum 18 shillings, before moving to an admin job where she met her husband, Bob, who was incidentally painting her office.

Bob was soon conscripted to the Army to do his national service in 1953.

On her birthday that year, Bob proposed over-the-phone before they tied the knot three weeks later on Boxing Day, one month before he was called to the Suez Canal Crisis.

In 1972, after the pair welcomed their five children, the family moved to Northampton where they lived in East Park Parade ahead of a lottery win which bought them a property in Dallington.

Beryl worked for Northamptonshire County Council until she was 70 until she retired with Bob, who died five years ago, after 60 years of happy matrimony.

Now the grandmother is happy spending time with her 10 grandchildren and six great grandchildren and her volunteering roles.

"I am very thankful for the life I have led," Beryl added. "Especially since moving to St Crispin Retirement Village in 2006 with Bob – we had seven years together here and since he died the friends I have made have kept me in focus together with my volunteering in the gardens and choir. I am also grateful for my lovely family who are constantly in touch."