REFLECTING on the war can often evoke many memories and stories for those who experienced it.

For two Upwey ladies, their memories have brought them together to talk about a bond shared over spending their childhood years during the Second World War abroad.

Both now in their eighties, Pru Bollam and Gwen Nayler, from Upwey, have decided to share with us an insight into their war experiences ahead of a fundraising talk they are hosting in aid of St Laurence Church, Upwey.

Pru said: "We were both sat at lunch and we got talking about war time and realised we both hadn't been in England during the war and we thought it would make a good show!"

Pru was sent to Canada during the war by her parents, and Gwen spent the war in her home country Australia.

Pru said: "I spent most of my time in British Columbia with my younger sister from 1940 to the end of 1944.

"I was 11 when the war started and 15 by the time I got home again, we were invited by our cousins in Canada and weren't told we were going.

"We sailed to Canada and it was a time when some ships with evacuees were sinking."

Pru's parents stayed behind in England to help with the war effort and her mother went to London to help the Red Cross while Pru started school in Vancouver.

"My mother wrote to us every week, the letters were in those blue little envelopes but we didn't always receive the letters.

"Of course she wouldn't tell us about the bombing though."

Pru spent some of her time in Canada joining girl guides and helping to make rivets for planes and putting parts together.

"I have so many memories and it was a great adventure. I have always been ready for new adventures and probably the most exciting thing was the rail journey across Canada and back again.

"It was a four day crossing from Toronto but I remember the journey back being so slow because we were part of a large convoy.

"The hardest part for me was when I had to come back again and make new friends.

"Going back to school everyone said we had escaped the war and weren't part of the effort.

"There was still rationing in college after the war and bread was rationed, but no rationing on brussel sprouts!"

While Pru was in Canada during the war, Gwen, just 9 years old, was 8,000 miles away growing up in Eastern Melbourne when World War II was declared.

Gwen said: "When the war broke out we had no indication there was going to be a war.

"Rationing was introduced and petrol rationing was quite severe. Clothing and meat was rationed because they said everything was needed for the army men and boys.

"I remember after school we would spend time sewing up food parcels everyday and the boys would have to make netting that was used to camouflage field guns.

"Most people think Australia escaped the war easily but when the Japanese came in, things changed dramatically.

"Darwin was heavily bombed but it was kept under wraps. Submarines entered Sydney harbour and destroyed houses until the navy sunk them."

Gwen had family and friends who were stuck in Singapore during the war.

Gwen said: "I had an aunt who lived in Singapore and she survived the war by going into a convent and dressing as a nun. We thought she had died until after the war we made contact through the Red Cross.

"Some friends who were living at the time in Singapore were in the Changi prisoner camp for three years. When they came back they were emaciated.

"By the end of the war, one of my greatest memories was when the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

"We had to spend the whole morning in prayers in the assembly hall. There were great celebrations in the Pacific when the war ended and victory came, the Australians really know how to celebrate."

Pru and Gwen decide to leave their stories there for now.

Pru said: "We don't want to give too much away, we want to save it for the evening!"

If you want to hear more of Pru and Gwen's stories, an evening talk, What we did in the War! is being held at Upwey Old School Hall on March, 17, 7.30pm. Tickets cost £10 and include wine and refreshments.

Proceeds are in aid of new facilities for St Laurence Church in Upwey. Call 01305 812341 for tickets.

CONTACT ME:

t: 01305 830987

e: jessica.rees

@dorsetecho.co.uk

twitter: @DorsetEchoJessR