I well recall the broadcast by Neville Chamberlain in September 1939.

We were all sitting listening to the radio and at the end of the broadcast my dad sat so still looking into space for a time.

He didn't say a word, then he said, I think, "We shall do what we can and we shall win." I went all through the war at my parents' shop which was on the Gloucester Road.

During the war when there was an air raid, we would just cover the items outside the shop and leave the door open. Nothing was ever stolen during a raid.

After training in the army I was posted not far from Hannover in Germany.

One day one of the chaps working for the army came up to me and said: "You are from Bristol and had a shop." He was a POW in a camp north of Bristol.

He told me that they were let out near the end of the war. He came into our shop when he could. He also said that he got on so well with the people of the area.

I trust this is of some interest for you.

Colin E Threader, ex RAOC Cpl, Horfield, pictured.