REMEMBRANCE: Scalby man shares memories of growing up in Scarborough during World War Two

In the week that we remember those who serve our country, former printing company director, Tom Pindar, 94, has shared memories which illustrate just what life was like in the town during the Second World War.

Mr Pindar said: “In the 1930s Scarborough Hospital was new. The Duke of Kent opened it as soon as the war began.

“I started at the boys school when I was 11-years-old, and we were sent to the hospital to put in sandbags, that was at the start of the war.

“Scarborough had a good war. There was plenty going on.

“I wasn’t keen on swotting and we did a lot of gardening and still played some games.

“The garden was at what’s now the Scarborough Sixth Form College Westwood Building, and there were a lot of vegetable patches there.

“We grew cabbages, cauliflowers, potatoes, carrots and there was also a piggery where we bred three or four pigs for meat. Everybody took some home.

“I was the only child of elderly parents, my dad was a special constable during World War One and he had a medical card.

“He did all sorts of other voluntary jobs during World War One and World War Two too.

“There was an old chapel on Castle Road, it was a tall building, with a big roof and we had to fire watch the big gutter.

“Various people used to take turns to, maybe two nights per week, but mercifully we never had any trouble

“We lived in Manor Road and I was very proud to have a tiny shrapnel hole in my bedroom window from the 1914 bombardment.

“The nearest the World War One shells fell was the bottom of Wykeham Street near Andy Hire, that house was damaged and there were some killed there.

“During World War Two, the houses along Commercial Street were damaged near the Railway Line.

“We only went to school half the time. Schools from Hull and North London evacuated to Scarborough and the schools did half for those visiting and half for the resident children.”

Mr Pindar’s wife, Margery, grew up in Hull and was evacuated to Selby during the war. She said: “We went to school from 9-12, that was the pattern across the country.”

“It was just part of life, they were nice people.”

Tom said “ We had relatives in the States and my parents gave me the choice of whether or not I wanted to go there, so I declined the offer.

Mrs Pindar said: “One girl came back with an American accent, short skirts and lipstick. The following week, all our skirts went up. The week after that, they all went down again!

Mr Pindar continued: “In Scarborough we had a great time, there were a great number of service bodies in town.

“There were three main hotels where they stayed, The Grand, The Royal and The St Nicholas.

“They had air crew in training there - the lads who were doing basic training before they went flight training.

“They brought a lot of life and vitality to the local dances.

“The Royal Marine band was evacuated from Deal, Kent. There was lots of music.

“There were lots of Air Force and Army and the WRNs were here too, they were codebreakers listening to Japanese broadcasts up on the Racecourse.

“On top of all that, there were all of the army units in the build up to D-Day.

“I remember the A64 on the Eastbound side became an ammunition dump in the build-up to D-Day.

“It was stacked with shells and ammunition along the length of the dual carriageway, from Whitwell Hill all the way to York. It seems almost incomprehensible now.

“For a young boy, it was an immensely exciting sight, and then it all vanished overnight and went off to D-Day.

“We used to have 1,000 people at Queen Street on a Sunday evening, lots of canteens for service people, we made lots of friends and acquaintances, some of the friendships lasted for years.

“Very vibrant was the town.

“And then, for young people, there was the sudden shock that someone you knew or had played with was dead or missing in action.

“One young man I was at school with, Maurice Musgrave, signed up as soon as he was old enough.

“He was killed in action as an air gunner.

“You couldn’t believe that someone you had played marbles with was dead.

“Whitby had an ammunition depot and I used to go to Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby and watch the boats, they would come in very close.

“It was fascinating to watch boat after boat after boat come by with barrage balloons to keep low-flying aircraft away.

“The bomber raids came from the far side of York right to the coast.

“When the 1,000 bomber raids were going on, the sky ws black with airplanes and we would go and watch and listen anxiously for them to come back.

“At the Hole of Horcum there was a mock village, built to give the impression of an urban area.

“They would wave the search light to attract German bombers and they dropped their bombs on it

Mr Pindar did his National Service almost as soon as the war ended.

He said: “There was still rationing and we were still largely on a wartime footing. I joined the RAF.

“Those who were in the air cadets were supposed to get better jobs and a better rank, but I soon found out that you had to take a commission for three years to get that and I didn’t want to do that.

“I did a wireless fitters course because I had done physics at A-level.

“I was at parachute school and transport command places, first at Padgate near Warrington for basic training and then at RAF Dishforth, RAF Honington and RAF Abingdon.”

Mr Pindar was demobbed in 1948. He said: “My father was mayor at the time and he took the salute from the Green Howard’s when they came back from wherever they were.

He met wife-to-be Margery at Queen Street Central Hall while she was working as a teacher at Friarage School.

The couple married in May, 1953, the week before the coronation and remember the bunting and the flags flying and joking that they were flying for them.