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During the war, I wanted to try my hand driving my father’s car, At the time I was eleven years old and was friendly with John Calderwood . John lived in Stanmore and we both decided we should have a try at driving Dad’s old 1929 Hillman. The Hillman was a heavy vehicle and as it was to be our first attempt at the controls we thought we could first learn how to drive it out of the garage, if we could, we would then let it run slowly backwards down the steep drive towards the road. If successful we would then drive it back into the garage again.

To be on safe side we put a heap of bricks each side across the lower section of the drive. This we thought would help stop to the vehicle running into the road and also would help hold the car parked, giving us a chance to get our thoughts together before we drove it back up the hill into the garage. The gear leaver on this Hillman was on the right of the driver while the hand brake was central. John and I agreed that if I steered and looked after the gears and accelerator John would control the clutch and foot and parking break.

We started up the engine, John pushed in the clutch while I put the gears into reverse. John released the hand break while I pushed in the accelerator the engine revved up. Then John let out the clutch and the vehicle moved back quite smoothly across the level garage floor. I at once eased off the throttle and we coasted over the level concrete onto the steep slope but I had the sense to apply the foot brake pressing my foot on John’s area of control for somehow I felt he had forgotten that was his job! However we let the old car run slowly backwards onto the bricks where John realised what he had forgotten pulled out his foot from under mine and banged it onto mine and that really hurt!

John then did his other job and applied the clutch and pulled on the hand brake. The car stopped and I put the car out of gear. At this point John eased off his pressure on my foot thank goodness but the wheels started to rock and move again mounting the bricks thank goodness John pulled on the hand break up further we had stopped!.

Our next problem was to drive the car back, this proved much more difficult. with two of us at the controls. After a few tries we managed it reasonably smooth start. We drove up the drive somehow steering straight into the garage, once on the level floor of the garage we did our jobs perfectly, John pushed the clutch in I got the gearbox into neutral. We were really pleased with ourselves but having reached this level area we had forgotten that even though John had the clutch pushed well down and I had moved the gear lever to neutral the car would continued to coast! And on it went to hit the end of the garage with a load bang!! We had both forgotten to apply the foot brake perhaps we thought the other was in charge of that! worse John had overlooked the application of the hand brake.

The outcome was Mum though a bomb had dropped for in her kitchen all the plates had fell off the wall and there was quite a pile of broken china there on the dresser. As my mother thought it was a bomb we thought it best not to disagree with her. Our biggest worry was that Dad would notice the petrol we had used , for in those days it was strictly rationed and every drop was precious and would be missed. Somehow I seemed have got away with it. The Germans took the blame and the broken plaster in the garage was unnoticed

With the country at war things started to happen everyone started to rush about certainly at the start. First of all sand bags seemed to arrive from nowhere these where filled and piled up in front of council offices and wherever officials and staff worked. Windows were taped up with brown, sticky paper and blackout curtains were put up on our windows.

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