To celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the end of the Second World War in Europe, some older members of the local parish have shared their personal memories of the war. (Compiled by Cathy Randall)

June Hill

June Hill has the distinction of having been evacuated not once, but twice.

June was eight at the outbreak of war, living in Battersea with her parents and younger brother Alan, aged five.

June and Alan were evacuated to Portslade near Brighton, where they had a happy time, but it soon became clear that the south coast was not the ideal place for evacuees, being within easy reach of German planes.

As a result, there was a plan to move all the evacuees to Wales.

June's mother feared that she might never see her children again if they disappeared to Wales, so June's father decided to move the family to Teddington.

They knew the area, her father – a toolmaker – would be able to travel easily to his work in Clapham, and Teddington seemed far enough out of London to be safe.

The family moved to Clarence Road, and June and Alan came back to live with their parents.

June went to St Mary's and St Peter's School and attended Sunday School at Christchurch with all the other local children.

She remembers the minister there being a very nice man with the wonderful name of Mr Jump!

Teddington, of course, turned out not to be as safe as Mr Hill had hoped.

In Clarence Road, they had a Anderson shelter in the garden, and a Morrison shelter in the dining room. (A Morrison shelter was like a big metal table that you could sleep underneath.)

The family slept in the Morrison shelter, sometimes in the Anderson Shelter, and occasionally they went to the big communal shelters in Bushy Park, and then June went to school in the morning! There must have been a lot of tired children.

June clearly remembers all the Americans in Bushy Park.

The officers were billeted on local people but the ranks lived in huts in the park. The Hills didn't have room to house an officer, but their next door neighbour did, and their daughter Joyce eventually married the GI that was billeted with them.

Joyce left June some of her clothes when she moved to America which June was delighted about, as new clothes were hard to come by.

June remembers lots of English girls marrying Americans. June was not the only person I talked to who commented that the Americans had lovely uniforms compared to our soldiers – much better material!

June remembers that after the Americans left Bushy Park, the army huts then housed Italian POWs.

Large trenches were dug in the park to prevent aeroplanes landing there.

In 1944 June's little brother Roland was born.

The bombing, having more or less ceased for two years, now resumed with the arrival of the deadly German V1 rockets – or doodlebugs.

June, her mother and brothers were evacuated to Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, together with others from Teddington.

Her father stayed behind and carried on working – he now had a new, more local job.

Although she still remembers her fear of the doodlebugs, this time June didn't want to go, but she had no choice.

However, they were back in Teddington in time for the end of the war.

On VE Day June's father took her and Alan up to Buckingham Palace.

She saw the King and Queen on the balcony, and everyone holding on to the railings, cheering and waving.

She thinks there was probably a street party in Clarence Road too because she can remember a big bonfire in the middle of the road near the junction with Avenue Gardens.

Pam Bryant

Pam Bryant remembers Sunday 3 September 1939 very clearly. She lived in St Mary's Avenue with her parents and brother, and on that morning, she and her brother decided to go out for a walk as they often did.

They went down to the station and stood on the bridge between the platforms, watching the trains come in.

They didn't realise that at home their parents were huddled round the radio, listening to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announcing the outbreak of war with Germany.

Once Pam's parents heard that war had been declared, they quite naturally panicked because they couldn't find Pam and her brother, so her father got on his bike to go and look for them.

Luckily, he found them! I think all parents can relate to the need to know where their children are at such an uncertain time.

Pam's family, like many others, had an Anderson shelter in the garden. Her particular memory of this is that her brother had a rabbit which her parents wouldn't let into the shelter.

Instead, they kept it near the entrance where it thumped all night. I'm glad to report that, despite not being in the shelter, the rabbit survived the war!

During the war, she remembers Teddington being badly bombed, especially the infamous night of 29 November 1940 when the Germans were aiming for the NPL and bombed and destroyed a significant part of Church Road and the area around it.

Pam remembers, at the age of about fifteen, cycling along Hampton Road to her job in Hampton Hill, often amid the sirens going off.

Pam also has happy memories. Regular dances were held in the church hall at St Mary's, Hampton Hill – you just turned up, partner or no partner.

Pam used to go with her great friend Edna and dance with the GIs stationed in Bushy Park. She danced with lots of GIs!

On VE Day, Pam and Edna went up to London, by train to Waterloo, and then to Buckingham Palace.

There were such crowds in the Mall you couldn't move, she remembers, it was a wonderful, electric atmosphere. Everyone was happy. Pam and Edna also went up to London for VJ Day, with the same group of friends.

More local VE Day Memories

Bomb 'map' of Teddington and surrounding area

Teddington and Twickenham at War

Bushy Park's Role in D-Day and World War Two

Why VE Day is important