大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sarah Powell of Bradford Libraries on behalf of Constance M. Galilee and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

When the air attacks became commonplace, elaborate plans were laid at school, for the children's protection.
Boys took it in turn to sit on the school roof with a stick and a frying pan. As soon as planes were spotted, the frying pan was beaten. The boys came down, monitors grabbed first aid boxes or candles and matches, all lined up and went at the trot down the road to the shelters.
These took the form of zigzag trenches covered with corrugated iron camouflaged with sods and brushwood. We were so well organised that the whole performance took place in six minutes, and no panic.
In the 'cooking' room, I turned off the ovens, damped the fire and left with the rest. Strange to relate I do not recall any baking being spoilt, despite daily 'raids'. Just the luck of timing.
Rations were provided for the lessons. Very meagre and rather unbalanced. Some lard, margarine and sugar. No meat, but some cheese. These were handled like gold, and there was no waste. The barter system was in full swing, with parents and local shopkeepers helping out. We had dreadful dried eggs, and worked miracles with them. If shopkeepers had a bulk item impossible to share out, e.g. a four pound tin of treacle, two pound jars of jam, it was offered to the school and gladly gathered in. In those days, quite a few of the locals kept a pig, hence some lard. Others had hens and contributed the odd egg or two.
I also got the job of demonstrating Mr Wootton's wartime recipes to night classes. These classes were very well attended, as the products were shared amongst the attending housewives. I was briefly very popular in the village. It was nerve-racking work because the recipes were outlandish and I could not try them out beforehand - no rations allowed for that.
When the girls became proficient in their last year at school, I occasionally circularised the parents to see if they could help out with enough rations to make a family dinner to take home. How good these parents were; they supported me nobly and thank goodness, we never let them down. I think I might have been lynched, had the food been spoilt.
One incident stands out when we were very lucky. As we went to the air-raid shelter, the Luftwaffe came over at rooftop height. The noise was dreadful and the children stopped and stared up at the crosses on the wings of the planes. We teachers were frantically trying to keep them on the move, dreading what might happen.
And we were right to be afraid. Those same planes machine-gunned a funeral procession in the next village that day.
Often the children spent most of the night in shelters, and came to school half-asleep. Then I would say, 'Heads down for half an hour's nap.'
A special church dispensation allowed teachers to conduct a short prayer service and Blessing at the end of each day - with heartfelt 'Amens'.
Part of the prayer went:
'For things unnumbered that we take of right
And value first when first they are withheld
We thank thee, Lord.'

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.