War was just child's play for cheeky James

Playing with bombs, collecting pieces of anti-aircraft shells and doing drawings in a Spitfire factory - for James Hickman the Second World War was like child's play.

He was supposed to have been evacuated from his home in Smethwick when he was nine-years-old, but the plucky youngster managed to escape from the authorities.

Instead James enjoyed going out onto the streets of Sandwell with his friends, collecting pieces of fallen shells in their buckets.

The 80-year-old remembers throwing a bomb back-and-forth between his friends and the day when, at just 14-years-old he started work at a factory making parts for Spitfires.

"I was born in Spon Lane and when I was nine-years-old we moved into Brasshouse Lane in Smethwick, which was near all the factories," says James, who has three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

"At that time I was supposed to be evacuated with my cousin Barry Smith to Bewdley but because we moved house, the authorities lost my contact details.

"I didn't go to school for a while to escape from being evacuated and I used to hide whenever the truant man came knocking on the door."

James says that as children he and his friends weren't scared of the war.

"It was like a big adventure," he says.

"Two bombs went off near us in Pavilion Avenue and my wife and I both remember when a German plane came down in Hales Lane on April 10, 1941.

"I still have a piece of a shell which was dropped near us.

"The streets would be covered by bits and so my friends and I would go out with buckets to collect the anti-aircraft shells."

His father Jim worked in a drop-forge and one day found a bomb.

"It was around 20 inches long, so he brought it home and put it in the shed," says James.

"However, I was only around 10-years-old and when I found it decided to show it to my friends.

"We went up the road to one of the shelters and were throwing it off the top to each other — today if something like that was found they would clear a couple of roads. When my uncle Norman found out how we had been playing with the bomb he was furious and he took it to the police station."

James, who now lives on Eve Lane in Upper Gornal, was 11 when he was moved to Uplands Junior School.

"During the war a lot of women were going out to work and were leaving their children in crèches," says James, who met his wife Iris when they were both members of Dartmouth Cycling Club.

"While at school I would go into the woodwork room and help the teacher make toys, such as barrows and trucks, to take to the children in the crèches.

"Because of this I had a good report from the headmaster and this led to me getting a job at Birmid Industries in Dartmouth Road, Smethwick."

James says working at the factory, which is commonly known as 'The Birmid', was frightening at first.

"When I was at school I used to turn the wheel for the lathe and it used to scare the life out of me," he says.

"I started in the pattern shop at The Birmid making things to be cast and the lathes were as big as dinosaurs — it took me a while to stop being nervous of them.

"I was only 14 and should have had technical training so I started out sweeping up and making tea for the men."

This led to James helping to make the patterns and when he was 16 he was sent to James Watt College in Crocketts Lane, Smethwick.

"I was a full-time apprentice with The Birmid until I was 21 and went in the army," he says. "It was a lovely factory and the workers were some of the cleverest people I have ever met."