It was generally considered that William Ashman was born on 16th December 1898. His parents forgot to (or deliberately didn't) register his birth, which resulted in his having no birth certificate. This caused problems when he joined the army during the first world war, and again when he reached retirement age. He was born in the Bath area, where several Ashmans are mentioned on the war memorial. His sisters were called Lilly and Annie, and his brothers were Richard and Sydney, known as Oscar.

William joined the Royal Engineers Signal Corp when he was 17 and was sent to Alexandria in Egypt during World War 1. There is still a letter in existence which he wrote to his parents from there in 1916, along with a photograph of him taken at around the same time.

After the war he exchanged one uniform for another, that of an AA patrol man. We have a photograph of him standing outside his AA box. He was standing by his AA box saluting people in 1926 when Dorothy May Brown cycled past on her way back to Lyegrove House in Wiltshire where she worked as a maid. William and Dorothy were married in 1928 at Wimborne in Dorset and made their home in Ringwood at a house called Oakleigh. They had their first child, Sheila May, at this house, but when Dorothy was expecting her second child she went back to her mother in Gorleston near Great Yarmouth. William cleared the house and followed on afterwards and they lived in the area for the next 10 years, first at 4 Dock Tavern Lane and then at 99 Balliol Road.

My father could not get regular employment, it was mostly seasonal. Gorleston came alive in the summer with holiday makers and I remember him on a tricycle selling ice cream. "Stop me and buy one" was the slogan, he wore a peaked cap and a white jacket. Another job he had was driving a van for Mr Hills delivering cakes and sometimes in the winter he delivered coal. I don't remember the other jobs.

During the 1930's we were going through a time called "The Great Depression", although us children didn't know much about it, but I do remember going to the soup kitchen where they doled out soup to needy families.

When I was 5 in 1935 my father took me to Stradbroke Road School in Gorleston and on the first day we sat in the hall waiting. The classroom door in the corner of the hall opened and I saw my teacher. I can still see her now in her green overall. She wore glasses, had ginger hair and was plump and motherly. She made me welcome and showed me where to put my lunch in the bag behind the door. As time went by I was able to go on my own to school and on the way along the street I always noticed the Sharp's toffee advert with the monocled man wearing the bowler hat.

We never met my father's parents at Bath because nobody could afford the fare. Dad went on his own once and brought us some presents back. So in 1939 when they died within a week of each other we'd never seen them. Dad travelled to their funeral and then was invited to stay with his sister Annie at Boscombe near Bournemouth. He found there was much more work in that area compared to Gorlestone.

Meanwhile at Gorlestone we were issued with gas masks and mum was getting a bit worried so it was decided to move to Boscombe. Mum had to sort the house out and send things by rail. We arrived at Pokesdown station (Boscombe) in July 1939 and there was dad waiting for us on the platform. We were all glad to see him and then we walked all the way to auntie's house where a great welcome awaited us.

During the war, when we had moved to the council house 148 Iford Lane because the rent was cheaper, Dad grew lots of vegetables in the garden to keep us supplied. It was imperative especially during the war when we were all told to "Dig for victory". England had to be mostly self sufficient. People walking by admired his garden. We were asked to give newspapers and books to be recycled for the war effort so dad gave his school prizes "King Solomon's Mines", "John Halifax Gentlemen" and "East of Suez". I had read those books and thought it was a pity they had to go.