My grandmother, Cynthia Dowdall, is a great storyteller. Ever since I was a tiny little nuisance of a thing, I’ve sat next to her and listened to her tell stories. A teenager in London England when World War II started, she mostly talks about the war – how she was evacuated to Cranleigh, Surrey, how her mother joined her and her younger sisters there, and how she met and married my Grandfather, John Dowdall and moved to rural Canada, worlds away from the thrills of London.
You can tell that Nana really loved the excitement and danger of the war years, since she rarely tells stories about anything else. She she dated plenty of men, she moved frequently with her family, the bombs fell and the fires raged and aircraft came crashing down. The Edwards were a very eccentric and theatrical family; Nana Billie, my great-grandmother, was a confirmed flirt and a great hand at cards. Papa Horace, my great-grandfather, was an aircraft mechanic and had served in World War I; when he eventually moved to Canada, he worked on the Avro Arrow. Great-Aunt Pam was a dancer, and toured in shows around England.
This video was shot in about 2001; I’ve done a series of interviews with her, and I’m aiming to get them online over this year.
