Title
Memories of a Civil Defence Interview
Subject
Civil Defence
Description
June Dawson recalls an accident when a Civil Defence recruiter visited her husband.
Creator
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Source
Interview with June Dawson for the East Midlands Oral History Archive. Uncatalogued.
Publisher
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Date
1960s
Rights
You may use this item in accordance with the licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/
Format
.mp3
Language
English
Type
Oral history
Original Format
.wav
Duration
1 min 43 secs
Bit Rate/Frequency
128kbps
Transcription
We made an appointment with the Civil Defence and this gentleman came to see David when he’d been on a morning shift, and it was in the evening, and he came, and we’d got the one living room and… you used to have to sit round the fire, your knees, the front of your legs would be mottled with the heat and your back would be frozen, but that’s how it was. So, we all sat round the fire, this gentleman came in, beautifully dressed, like, you know, Civil Defence - white shirt, really, officer, you see - and he said, telling David about the duties that he would have to perform. He’d have to be trained in knowing how to deal with any building that’d fallen, that’s what they did, they used to go out and rescue people from buildings and anything like that. So, he said that the one thing you must always remember is, you’re not to panic at any time because that doesn’t help the situation at all. At that precise moment, down from the chimney came this ball of fire and blow me if it wasn’t the brush head that had fallen into the fireplace! And we’re all covered in soot, and this poor man, he said, well I don’t know how you managed that Mr Dawson, he said, but you’re in, you never budged. He said, you’ve passed the test!
Interviewer
Rhianydd Murray
Interviewee
June Dawson
Location
Interviewee's home address
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