成人快手

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Nancy Waterfall, Learning Officer at the National Trust at Sutton Hoo on behalf of Mrs Frost and Mrs Rumsby and has been added to the site with their permission. The authors fully understand the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

We are the daughters of Mr Buckle, the under gardener at Sutton Hoo. He was responsible for the roses and the topiary. We are two of ten children, one of whom is a brother called Peter. Our father was at Sutton Hoo for about 20 years, and during that time he found Mrs Pretty鈥檚 son Robert in the garden pool and fished him out. Peter played with Robert Pretty as they were the same age. When Mrs Pretty died in 1942 Dad found she had left him 拢100.00 in her will.

At the time of the excavation, all the children in the family were excited when the ship was opened, and we were given rivets from the Anglo-Saxon boat. There were no restrictions as to where on the estate we children could go. On November 5th they used to have a bonfire and Mrs Pretty used to put potatoes and chestnuts in the fire. She was a lovely woman.

Mrs Pretty died on 18th December 1942 and was cremated on 22nd. Her ashes were put in with Colonel Pretty in Sutton churchyard. In June 1943 the Land Army took over the house.

Mrs Frost: I was born in 1934, and used to go to school in Sutton. While walking there I could see bombs dropping, and I found it terrifying.

Mrs Rumsby: After leaving school, I helped my elder sister Ethel, who was the cook, in the house at Sutton Hoo. When I started work I was 14, and wore a dress with a long petticoat, probably one of my older sister鈥檚 cast-offs. Mrs Pretty took my hand, led me to the mirror and said 鈥淚 should get that shortened鈥�. Later on I met my husband at Woodbridge Air Base, as did one of my twin sisters.

The twins in the family were playing outside the cottage when a German plane went over. It dive bombed them and strafed them, but they got into the house - but the bullet holes in the door were the evidence of the attack.

During the war soldiers were billeted in the stables. One of our brothers went to HMS Ganges at the age of fifteen. He was subsequently killed while on a food convoy to Russsia. Another brother was a Spitfire pilot, and he also lost his life.

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