Born into this life on the 22nd of March 1941 ,during an air raid what time I wasn’t told but it was dark as the curtains where drawn against escaping light and the midwife stood at the end of the bed , her back to the covered windows prepared to give her life “should the windows be shattered “ to protect this mother and child .Mum and Dad had already done this 7 times,mum’s first born twins Ruth and Rachel were seven months babies and at that time their chances slim living but a few hours ,then Leslie,John twins Richard and Lionel sister Jean and now it was my turn to be thrust into life,duly born cleaned and handed to my mother she said a haven’t got a girls name for her ,Dad to midwife “what’s your name” “Ann “came the reply ,”there you go”said Dad ,and so became Ann Francis Bardwell-Dix a very posh name for a very ordinary girl.
At six moths old I caught whooping cough and was very ill ,mum and dad nursed me down stairs in the front room so that kettle could be steaming on the fire to ease my chest,sometime in the early hours of the morning I stop breathing,dad said to my distraught mother ,”come to the kitchen Gertie there’s nothing more we can do I’ll make a cup of tea “when dad got mum into the kitchen he realised the kettle was still on the hearth,then a minor miracle happened dad heard a sound from my cot ,leant over and saw that I had gone blue,swiftly picking me up and holding me by my ankles he W thud my back a few times,whereupon I coughed and started to loudly cry ,it wasn’t my time and my father became my hero.