The Heritage Project: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Our new telephone befriending service allows us to keep on reminiscing and remember what is truly important. As part of our Heritage Project, our volunteers have enjoyed being taken back to sunnier times by their befriendees, and also to times that almost make these Covid days seem like a walk in the park. One lady was happy to share her stories from back in Aberdeen during World War II, showing that the experiences of those who live in Glasgow transcend city limits.

She clearly remembers the air raids in Aberdeen, and one, in particular, stands out. She and her brother were playing in the old discarded tyres near their cottage, just like they always did because they could fit their whole bodies inside them! They were the youngest in their family (11 and 8 respectively) and they were perched on such a tyre when they heard a German plane go over - they recognised it as German because it had a distinctive, heavy drone. When they looked up, they could see the pilot’s face and watched as the doors on the plane’s belly opened, ready to drop a bomb onto the railway behind their house.

They both ran to their house door but the vibrations had caused it to jam. Her older brother and her mum were frantically trying to open it from the inside, and she was pushing it from the outside. Eventually, after many terrifying moments, it opened and they all ran and hid under the bed.

She said this was a very scary experience. However, at other times funny things happened. Once, she was slightly further from home so there was no time to return when the air raid siren went off. They met a neighbour who said they should hide in a close. There, they lay down with their hands over their head and she thought she could hear the noise of machine gun fire rat-a-rat-tatting on the roof the whole time. Thankfully, the neighbour admitted it was actually his knees knocking against the door!

These stories and many more were collected by the lady's lovely volunteer, Gillian. If you are a volunteer who would like to get involved in reminiscing with the Heritage Project, please get in touch. If you'd like to support our telephone befriending project, please do so on our donations page: https://www.befriend.org.uk/donate