Eric Winterbottom

Eirc Winterbottom, my father, made an alternative contribution to the war effort by being an on-call orderly at Manchester Children's Hospital. 

When the air-raid sirens sounded he had to get to the hospital immediately, to assist in moving the children in their beds down to the bomb shelters. (He worked in a bank in central Manchester.) As his home was not in the city centre, I believe he was required to sleep at the hospital in some kind of shift system that ensured there were enough orderlies to cover any emergency, day and night. After an "all clear" was sounded, my father had to help return the beds and children to the wards, of course.