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Our Guides

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The Pearce sisters have lived in Plymouth all their lives and have experienced the massive changes World War II has brought to the city; they are trapped in a bygone time the year 1943. The sisters enjoy helping Discovery Tours by enlightening you about their day to day lives, helping to transport you back in time, making the past come alive.

Jane

My name is Jane I am the youngest of three sisters I’m only 20, home on leave from my duties in Cornwall. Every time I come home I see yet another part of the city destroyed, it’s disappearing bit by bit. First the church where we were all Christened and my parents were married was bombed and burnt to the ground. Even the local shops, were demolished and I could not believe my eyes when I saw the main shopping centre which has now been completely flattened. Its hard to imagine if life will ever be normal again. I was conscripted about six months ago; I am now a land army girl helping with the war effort, by working on the land. It’s been really hard leaving home for the first time, I miss my family, and especially Mum's Sunday roasts. Mr and Mrs Brown ,who own the farm are very kind but it isn’t home, I’ve only ever slept away from home once before, when we went on holiday to Newquay. The work has been hard to get used to, so different from working in the corner sweet shop at home. We, that is the other two land army girls here and me have learnt to drive a tractor, plough fields and feed animals. It’s hard and so tiring as we are up at the crack of dawn and keep working till its dark. Mr Brown says we are as good as any man he’s ever hired before.

The farm isn’t that far into Cornwall only about twenty miles or so from Plymouth. Sometimes I wish I had been sent a hundred miles away. When Plymouth is being bombed the night sky lights up in an orange and red glow. It’s a vast sea of flames rising hundreds of feet in the air looking like a huge firework display. I stand glued to the spot and I feel the tears trickling down my face. Here I am watching from the safety of Cornwall. I feel so guilty, so helpless, not there to help protect my family. Wave after wave of bombers fly over Plymouth releasing their weapons of destruction on to the unsuspecting city below. I close my eyes and imagine the devastation, the lives lost, I feel sick to the stomach. What if they haven’t made it to the shelter in time?

What if the shelter takes a direct hit?

what if ?

what if ?.

Can you imagine how I feel. I mutter a prayer over and over again in my head. Please keep them safe.

Maud

Hello let me introduce myself, my name is Maud.I am married with a beautiful 5 year old daughter called Daisy. My husband Fred is away fighting for King and country. We both miss him so much and we treasure every letter Fred writes us, when he can ,of course. I don’t just look after my daughter I am also an air raid warden. Don’t laugh women have had to take on men’s jobs, because all the young men have been called up. Anyway, when the air raid siren starts its stomach curdling wail, warning us that the planes are on there way, my first job is to make sure little Daisy is tucked up safely in the Anderson shelter with Liz. Thank goodness it’s only in the back garden. I then put on my overalls ,wellington boots and steel helmet (I know not very glamorous) carrying a stirrup pump in one hand and a bucket of sand in the other. I close my eyes and take a big gulp to help me gain a little courage hold my head up high and I walk the streets of the city, helping to keep it safe. I am looking for small bombs called “incendiary”, these bombs are dropped so they can start fires, and they can do so much damage.

I must tell you what happened to me last week. It was the worst night of my life. I was on duty when a bomb dropped not far from my street, and it completely demolished a neighbour’s house. I felt quite ill knowing that those poor people were trapped maybe buried alive under the rubble. I dug and dug frantically until my fingers bled. My heart was beating so loudly I thought it was going to explode, someone’s arm went up to call for silence and we held our breath not daring to move a muscle. There it was again tap, tap, tapping. Thank god they all made it, no fatalities that night.

Liz

Nice to meet you, I am the eldest of the Pearce sisters and sadly I was widowed in February 1942, when HMS Exeter the ship my husband was serving on went down. He and twenty six other brave men lost their lives that day. Sometimes I am so lonely and get so angry that this stupid war seems to be going on for ever. At least I’ve had my children to stop me from losing my sanity; they bring some normality to my life. Sadly though, I don’t think for much longer I have to make one of the hardest decisions of my life, should I evacuate my children David and Sarah to the safety of the countryside, to be brought up by some strangers? I fought against their being evacuated in 1941and I am still not sure if that was the right decision to this day. They’ve seen so many horrors in their short lives, friends being killed, the streets they live in being flattened. Plymouth has become such a dangerous place not only because of the Blitz, its also because our children now have rubble and bomb craters as playgrounds where they look for souvenirs like shrapnel ,on the way to school. I heard little Johnny Jones who lives the next street over found an unexploded Incendiary bomb only yesterday, luckily it didn’t go off while he was playing with it. It could have killed him. what would you do in my shoes?

Mind you I’d still have my work with the “Women’s Voluntary Service” or WVS for short. I volunteer several times a week and it helps fill the hole left by losing my husband and makes me feel of some use. I know he would have wanted me to help the war effort in some way. There are so many different jobs that we do, I can’t possible tell you about them all, but every one of them is invaluable to the war effort. We distribute food, clothing and blankets to those that have lost their homes, we take refreshments to the air raid shelters when the raids have lasted for long periods of time, that can be pretty scary I can tell you.