War Declared | 1001 Stories

#269 Sheila Goodall War Declared

And at the end when they’d said war is now declared I burst into tears. Thinking what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen?

Sheila Goodall

When war started we were sitting round the radio on the Sunday September the 3rd. I was seven. And there was my grandma, my mum and dad, my auntie, sitting round the radio. And I knew it was something important. And at the end when they’d said war is now declared I burst into tears. Thinking what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen?

That night they had, we didn’t realise at the time, a pretend air raid warning. And there was a bang on our door and it was my grandma. She lived with us and she was an awkward so-and-so. She reckoned she’d smelt gas and thought it must be a bomb. So when my dad opened the door she cried out ‘I’ve been gassed! I’ve been gassed!” And my dad said ‘Good’.

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The beauty of being in a company of older performers is the kaleidoscopic range of real-life experiences that they bring to the table. These experiences cover everything from the vivid and strange world of childhood, to the unexpected late awakenings of old age. Take our newest batch of anecdotes, for example. These new stories are delightfully diverse: from the earthly, sensual joy of baking bread, to the cosmic dreams of outer space; from an unnerving encounter with a poltergeist, to the risqué glories of adult pleasure products and burlesque. Running as a rich theme throughout, is the possibility of love, and the simple wonder of human connection. As one writer tells us, in her story of funeral rites and flirting, “Amidst death, life goes on”, and indeed it does, delightfully so.

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#269 Sheila Goodall War Declared

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