大象传媒

I am trying to write about things I remember about the war and after the war:

I was not very old when the war started but I remember my parents talking about things that happened during the war years there were yarns and some yarns were true and I suppose there were some not so full of truth. I lived in Nelson Street that was just off York Street, which did get it fair share of bombing. There was a space under the stairs in most houses which when there was an air-raid people thought they would be safe sitting under the stairs which looking back now was very foolish as most of the houses were old and if they had been hit which many houses were they just fell like a deck of cards around the residents some were killed and some were badly injured. There were bombs dropped in areas off York Street whole Streets of terrace houses were demolished and many lives lost. There was a Linen Mill that was located in York Street called York Street Flax Spinning Mill many of the people that lived in York Street worked in the Mill. The Mill was completely flattened by a bomb so that meant that most of the people were out of work so life for them was very hard trying to raise a family and doing their best for them.

I was told that all the dangerous animals in Belfast Zoo were shot dead during the war years. There was not so many motorised transport during the war years for petrol rationing was in force I think only business people and doctors etc. got the coupons for petrol. There were horse and carts to carry goods and supplies some of these horses were stabled near Nelson Street so when the bombings started these animals got very nervous and upset and when the bombing started and they could have become very dangerous to go near. Many children were evacuated to the country and were parted from their parents for the first time in their lives my husband was one of the children who was evacuated to Enniskillen in County Fermanagh he told me he did not like it one bit.

There was strict rationing people were issued with ration books and coupons to buy food and clothes. I remember when the war was over my mother gave me my first banana she told me I could make a sandwich with the banana which I did. The children did not have too many sweets so most of us all grew up with good teeth and there were not too many obese children. There was a Methodist Church in York Street Called Maguire鈥檚 the name was changed later on to The North Belfast Mission but the minister who preached in Maguire鈥檚 was called Daddy Maguire he was very generous to the poor people of the area there was a free breakfast for children before they went to school a few mornings a week.

There were air-raid shelters built in Nelson Street and there were air-raid shelters built in the playground of the school I went to I don鈥檛 think the shelters were used very often. I know Belfast was heavily bombed during the war the enemy seemed to be interested in the ship-building industry and the factory鈥檚 that were making ammunition for the war effort also the docks area was involved with the ships coming and going.

My father came from County Tyrone and some of his family still lived there, it was only 4 miles from the border near County Monaghan as the free-state was not in the war there was no food shortage. My mother used to go to the country a few times a year and smuggle food from Monaghan for us but the customers officers were very strict and sometimes they would take all their purchases of them you always had to take that chance. There were lots of people went over to border towns in the South to buy food for their family鈥檚 but if the custom men decided to take their goods it was a waste of a journey and the lose of money they could ill afford.

My father鈥檚 sister was a widow who lived in a street off the Shankill Road when the war started she went to live in Caledon, County Tyrone with her seven children I think the house was a run down shack but I suppose they were glad of some sort of a place to live. The house contained 2 rooms upstairs and 2 rooms downstairs there were no flush toilets or washing facilities I suppose there was only a cold top outside and a tin bath, which they had to make the best of. The American Soldiers were stationed in the little village so my aunt took in the soldiers washing so she was able to make some money but it was not easy for there were no washing machines in fact there was no electricity in the house. One day the rent man decided to call for the rent she said 鈥淵ou are bloody lucky to get someone to live in this never mind paying rent for it.鈥�

My grandmother built a summer wooden bungalow in Eden that is just outside Carickfergus my grandmother was a business woman and her family used this bungalow for weekends and summer holidays but when the war started the bungalow was used to house all her relatives I鈥檓 sure there was not very much space inside but in those days people made do with very little they had to for there was no other way.

I remember after the war there was a lot of waste grounds where buildings once stood the bottom of North Street was turned into a fair ground there were dodgem cars and other swings and roundabouts. There was a man who used to get a crowd around him and then he asked the crowd to throw money into the middle when he thought he had enough money he got some men from the crowd to tie him up in a strait-jacket and bind him with chains then he struggled and made it look very hard to make his escape that was the entertainment. I think they call these entertainers now Buskers.

I also remember a great big water reservoir that was built in Great Georges Street. The water in the tank was filthy but I suppose it was good enough to put out fires with. We were all issued with gas masks in little cases. Children did not get much education it was only people with money who could afford to send their children to further colleges and university the ordinary people had to send their children to work when they reached the age of 14 most of the children were sent to work in the Flax Mills and Gallagher鈥檚 Tobacco Factory also stitching warehouses were all sorts of clothing was made and exported to other countries. The wages that these young people earned was very low and hours were long I think some of them worked from 45 to 50 hours a week with one week鈥檚 holiday a year with a few days at Christmas and Easter but they did not complain because they did not know life any different. Many of these young people were badly injured in the Flax Mills my husband was one of these young people he was caught in one the big machine and lost his right arm at the age of 15 years the courts were not too generous with compensation in those days they paid out a meagre sum with no pension rights it was a sad time. Most teenagers who were working lived at home with their parents some teenagers moved to England were they thought their work prospects would be better some went to other countries which were a lot further some of them never saw their home-land or families again it was goodbye for ever it was a very sad time for the family to leave a loved one to the boat and know they might never see them again.

The Children in York Street area had swings just off Henry Street were we played, we also had a skipping rope which we played in the street then we used the rope as a swing the rope was hung in a lamp-post but if the police caught you the rope was taken of you I suppose they thought it was too dangerous there were many ball games played in the street. The street was the main playgrounds were all the kids played it was safe enough for there was very little traffic. At school the only physical education was the teacher took us to the playground and we had a few exercises for about 20 minutes or so that happened when the teacher felt like it the only 2 reading books that was in the school was Kidnapped and Treasure Island I suppose the schools did not get much of an allowance to buy essential material. The head Master鈥檚 name was Mr Alex Freeburn he was in the school a long time and he taught many families the school was Lancastern Street Primary I think there was about 4 or 5 other teachers in the school as well. I鈥檓 sure there were many bright children went to that school but without funding there was little they could do but get a job and get on with their lives.

This is my husband鈥檚 Alfred Campbell memory of the blitz.

I remember the people took what you would call the itch, you broke out in scabs in between your fingers and toes and the crown of your head, the only cure was then treacle and sulphur, the boys got there heads shaved, leaving them with only a donkey fringe. I remember the Savoy cinema Crumlin Road showing Gone With the Wind, and the next day the roof of the cinema was gone, I was in the Park cinema one night it was showing a war picture about the Germans and Yanks and suddenly a flash came on the screen it read Germany Surrounded and every one rushed out cheering and no doubt to celebrate. I can remember seeing the sky light up with powerful search lights and seeing the GERMAN planes and hearing the whistling and exploding of the bombs A land-mine exploded in Torrens Road off Oldpark Road it caused terrible death and destruction, we learned after what happened was the German plane that dropped the bomb the bomb disengaged itself from the parachute and glided over the rooftops to above road and exploded the parachute landed in the back yard of a house facing were we lived I remember going over to see the parachute it was made of the most beautiful silk even the ropes were made of silk then the police and air-raid wardens took it away. I travelled around with my chums looking at the devastation of the area and I noticed a terrible amount of incendiary devices lying about which were explosives with sand thrown over them by the A.R.P (air-raid patrols) the children and adults were warned not to lift or touch anything that was suspicious in case they were explosives. One day in our school we were in the playground and we noticed our school master he kept looking up to the sky and we noticed a plane which was very high up then our teacher Mr Bell ordered us to quickly go indoors when we heard the air-raid sirens going off that night German planes came over Belfast and the bombing was very heavy and many lives were lost.

We heard later the plane we saw the day before was a reconnaissance plane taking photographs

I was always the one in the family to do all the shopping and the food was rationed and hard to get and you had to queue up for everything one day I was sent to get some sausages I tried everywhere without success and on the way home I spied in this fish and sea-food shop a ringlet of sausages hanging from a hook so I bought a pound of them I was pleased at getting them and no more shopping my mum cooked them with a fry up with soda and potato bread and no one enjoyed them so I was in the dog house for bringing those sausages home the shop was Dixons Fish Shop Oldpark Road Belfast. The sausages were made of fish. Then there were the black- outs, you were not allowed to show any lights, most houses only hade gas light then, so you always hade to turn it way down low which was not very bright , then there the bread , it was called black bread the cause of being black was the was mixed with other ingredients making it sprinkled with black spots all .through the loaf . we had a Morrison shelter in our house, it was made of heavy plated steel and was surrounded with heavy gage wire, it was about the size of a double bed we used it as a bed and sometimes as a table. There were air raid shelters made in most streets and roads they were made of bricks and cement roofs, I do not think people used them much as they were used by courting couples and others using them as toilets so the smell was not very pleasant but some shelters were cleaned by thoughtful neighbours. They also caused accidents children would run out from behind them and be knocked over by passing vehicles I remember hearing of a cyclist going to work down Albert Street Falls Road he crashed into a shelter and was killed. There was a boy in my class his name was Skelton he lived in what we called the bally streets Oldpark Road the streets were flattened with bombs his house came tumbled down around them his little was badly hurt and his father rushed with her in his arms to the first aid centre at Finston School a German plane came down machine- gunning all round the area and so they were both killed.

After the war in Bridge Street waste ground were Arnolds old building was the had in show Field Marshall Goering private car was parked and you were allowed to sit in it.

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