When World War II started, Pam was ten years old and her brother Bill seven and a half. Their father dug a large hole at the top of the garden, lined it with corrugated sheets and covered it in earth, but her parents realised they could not use this shelter as Pam’s brother was a heavy sleeper, so a Morrison shelter was acquired and placed in the dining room. Bill slept in it every night while Pam’s mother and father brought their bed downstairs. Pam slept in the dining room with her brother and the living room and dining room were moved upstairs. The only time Pam went to have a look in the Anderson shelter at the top of the garden was to work out how she could decorate it.
 
Pam’s school moved from central Cambridge out to Long Road and into a new building. The school did not have a purpose-built air raid shelter, so they used the school cloakrooms. During practice air-raid drills the children moved into the cloakrooms and sat on benches in there. [In fact, the new school was designed from the beginning as an emergency hospital, with thick reinforced concrete, steel floors and flat roofs.]
 
Pam’s mum and dad decided to make another air-raid shelter under the stairs. She decorated this space and placed some of her toys in what the family later called the toy room. When Pam had some university students staying with her during the Cold War, they all discussed building a nuclear shelter under the house, using the old toy room as its entrance.