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During the war food was rationed. Everyone got a book containing coupons that you would hand in for food or clothes (e.g. it was 2 coupons for a pair of stockings). The reason the system started was that the import and export of food was stopped because of the German submarines firing torpedoes at the supply ships. The food that was available was rationed so everyone got their fair share.

All food was rationed, apart from vegetables because most people grew their own, like us. This meant that sweets were also rationed. I wasn’t allowed many sweets before the rationing system started, but with the sweet ration coupon I actually got more than I did before the war started!

Before the war we always had fresh meat from the butcher for our tea, but when the war started, supplies did not get round the county as usual. Supplies of meat were getting short so my mam ended up making the strangest meals out of vegetables etc.

As well as food being rationed, clothes were rationed too, which meant that you had coupons to buy clothes. I was able to skip that rule a bit though because when I was 14 I started working in a fashion shop and the owner of the shop liked us looking smart which meant I was able to buy clothes without the coupons. There was one draw back for me though. In those days women didn’t wear trousers, the new ‘in’ thing was ‘slacks’. They were something you basically pulled on to go into the air raid shelter, but my dad wouldn’t allow me to wear any. I had had a siren suit which was an all in one ski suit type thing but no slacks!

Back then we used to wear silk stockings or rayon stockings, which was artificial silk. It was two coupons to buy stockings but they used to ladder very easily so you could never keep up with your allowance so the chemist shop started selling paste so you could tan your legs, but you had to put it on fresh every morning and have a bath before you went to bed. Before the end of the war nylon stockings came in and you had to put your name down for a pair in the shop, but you could buy nylons if you had the money because they came out on the black market. The stalls that they were sold on were situated where Marks and Spencers and BHS are now. They were sold for a pound a pair and you can imagine how expensive that was when I was on a wage of on seven and six. By the time everyone had some I was only on thirty shillings.

All through the war, children had never seen bananas because they came from different countries. When the war finished food rationing continued until food supplies could be brought back to normal, people with blue ration books (which were children’s ration books) could get a pound of bananas. Children under 5 were scared to eat them because they had never seen a banana before. It was only children who got them though so if you didn’t have any children, you got no bananas.

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