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>> When the old air raid warning went -
they called it Moaning Minnie - you know the old stomach
turned over a bit and then that was it from then on.
You waited until the all clear -
the so-called all clear - went, the siren went
six or eight hours later and, you know, pray to heaven
that it wouldn't happen tomorrow.
But it did happen tomorrow and the day after and the day
after for many, many months.
You would, you know, you would sit in your house really
and hope for the best that they weren't gonna come over to you.
But probably half the time they did and, you know,
you could look out of your house window
and you could see unfortunate neighbours of yours, you know,
their house is on fire and so on and so forth.
You would always have these, like, dreams; you would go to bed at night
and dream that the war was over, and you know
the way dreams are they were either hopeful, could you wake up
and think, that was just a dream.
That was the way it took you.
There were times you'd think, we can't last much longer,
you know, we can't go on like this.
But don't get me on the subject because we become war bores.
[ Laughter ]
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>> The college at that time was nothing
but on the whole old men, ex-servicemen, you know, they came
and they were demobbed.
And we had the right to, you know, to get a grant
from the government to go to the college.
It wasn't so much ruined as it was slightly unkempt and a bit
of a shambles, you know.
It was just it needed a damn good tidy up.
But it was a pleasure to be there.
I hope I'm not romanticising this but I felt
that there was a plenty of activity and I don't know
to what degree that compares well with today.
But yes it was, well, lots of things going on.
>> [VO] This summer the winds have been very light on the whole
and our boats have been at a disadvantage
against the lighter fireflies owned by some
of the other colleges.
>> Quite a few societies, there really were,
and they were well attended.
I'm not so sure about the classes actually.
>> [VO] Many a pleasant and relaxing afternoon may be spent
on, or sometimes in, the water.
>> Now, I pinned up a notice on the board saying we were going
to found this society and could people put
down in the column their names and the particular activity
that they would be prepared to be in.
But most of everybody who filled it up were usually young lady students
who wanted to be actresses; they wanted to act in our films.
Well, unfortunately we weren't making films for actors,
they were documentaries. But we certainly got a full list
of applicants to want to join.
And by then, well, you know, we were away.
So anything we filmed, really, was what was taking place
around the college.
And as I say they were this short news reels of, you know,
the rag for example was one of them.
>> [VO] Rag Day, November the 5th was an event which called
for careful preparation.
>> That's mostly what I remember in a big way.
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