Am Baile: highland history and cultureHighland Council logo

Interview with Mrs I M Macarthur about the black-out

Interview with Mrs I M Macarthur about the black-out

Download MP3

Print this page

Email a friend

Make a Comment

Add to Scrapbook

Share

OLD COUNTY/PARISH: INVERNESS:Croy and Dalcross
CONTRIBUTOR: Am Baile and War Detectives
COLLECTION NAME: War Detectives
CREATOR: Mrs I M Macarthur

Audio   


location map
(This sound file is 1589K in length)

Please read the HELP NOTE below for the best way to listen to this audio

Mrs I M Macarthur mentions good and bad points of the black-out imposed in World War 2.

The worst was the black-out. And everything was blacked out. I mean, if you had even that much o' a light showing at a window, the ARP warden was on your top. 'Get that blind right up!' So, but everything was pitch black. There was no street lighting. The cars had half their lights blacked off. You had a wee peep o' light at the bottom and that was all. You daren't show any lights in case they attracted the planes, you see.

I remember, we lived in a wee house at Kilravock at that time and the walls were about that thick. And in the bedroom there was a little window and the black-out blind was on the inside of the wall. And my sister and I used to sit in there and watch the planes taking off from Dalcross Aerodrome, as it was then - Inverness Aerodrome now. We used to watch them taking off, the searchlights following them, you know. Because everything was pitch black. Even the Northern Lights were beautiful in those days because there was no lights to detract from them.

But I remember going out and in to Inverness in the bus in the black-out. No lights in the bus; they were blacked out. And you got to know when your let-off point was coming, you know. The Croy ones got off and then I knew that I was the next at the end of Kilravock road-end. You just stood up and the bus driver let you off.

This interview was recorded as part of a War Detectives project in 2005 at Cawdor Primary School.



IDENTIFIER: WD_HF08Track07Macarthur



HELPNOTE

To use the built in player, you'll need the Adobe Flash plugin (version 8.0 or later) for your browser. You can download a plugin here.
Alternatively, you can download the MP3 directly by right clicking on the "Download MP3" link, and selecting "Save Target As...".


Some other items in this collection...



Interview with Mary Maclean about evacuation to Skye

Interview with Mary Maclean about evacuation to Skye

Interview with Peggy Spence about war-time entertainment

Interview with Peggy Spence about war-time entertainment

Interview with Major-General Robertson about losing comrades in battle

Interview with Major-General Robertson about losing comrades in battle

Interview with Hugh M Fraser about the outbreak of war

Interview with Hugh M Fraser about the outbreak of war





Copyright © 2003 - 2013 Am Baile/The Gaelic Village