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This story has been submitted to the Peoples War web site by Ian Chapman on behalf of Bernice Bearham, the author, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

Stithians was a quiet Cornish village until the war started in 1939. High lights of the village then, were whist drives on a Saturday evening, male voice choir practice, chapel and church services.

The main feature of the year was the annual village show held every July. Back then everybody cleaned up the village for the special day. Doorsteps were scrubbed — walls and back kitchens were all lime washed white! The show was formed in the early 1800’s and is still going today. It was cancelled in the war years because of rationing and food shortages.

Our school bell rung 8.50 — 9.00 in the morning and 1.05 — 2.05 in the afternoon but this and church bells were stopped as this was going to be a warning of an invasion by Germany. So if we had heard bells ringing we would have been in panic.

German bombing of large towns was a threat. Coach loads of children (to Redruth by train) arrived in our village from West Ham, Bermonsey, Walthamstow and Plymouth aged 5 — 14 years. Many were crying and very upset to have had to leave their homes. A few parents came too, along with some teachers to help get them settled.

We had 3 little 6-year-old girls (one of which went home after a couple of weeks). I was only 9 ½ years old, an only child and enjoyed their company. Looking back my mum had a busy time.

All the Children had a small bag or case of clothes and a brown cardboard box containing a gas mask, it was feared we might get gas attacks from Germany. We took gas masks with us everywhere and if we went to school without it, we would be sent home to get it!

At the end of our road we had a little farm which had 5 milking cows, there were two six year olds called Diane and Paddy, they were very interested to see the cows being milked. They also had a taste of fresh warm milk after it had been through a strainer. We were not allowed to warden far from the house or school because the fear of daytime air raids. The beaches were all surrounded with barbed wire. We were warned not to go on the beaches as a few places had been machined gunned by German planes.

We had a field just opposite our house and the girls loved going there to pick the ‘milk maid’ flowers and blackberries, which they had never done before. Every day was a new adventure for them.

The school had 6 classrooms and was very overcrowded so we took over the Village Hall and its two inside rooms next door to the school.

We didn’t have any air raid shelters, so when the sirens sounded we crouched on the floor beneath the big windows in the classrooms. Luckily we didn’t get any scares — only planes overhead! There were a lot of big posters on the walls — warning us about ‘Butterfly bombs’ being dropped by the German planes. The Butterfly bombs looked like pretty toys but we were warned if picked up they would explode, but did not see any.

When Plymouth was bombed so badly, the late evening sky was a glow. Orange and red flames were high in the sky. We knew that somewhere was being bomb, but we didn’t know where to until the following day. No noise could be heard — but it was frightening to see the sky so brightly aglow.

There were at least 12 Barrage balloons in Falmouth to deter enemy bombers we could see them high in the sky from Stithians. When we noticed them going up higher we usually expected a daytime air raid.

There was a large American Camp at the Beacon (there is a school there now) complete with lorries, jeeps and a huge gun which when used the house and bungalows around shook.

The Quarry car park was also full of American serviceman, lorries, tents, jeeps and a huge canteen.

Some of the local girls soon made friends and had plenty of chewing gum and nylon stockings, which we had not seen before! Both sides of the road from Penryn to Helston were full of Americans. The fields had tents, lorries and jeeps. There were two camps, which were quite separate. One camp was white and the other was coloured Americans. They both did not mix. Some came down into our village whist drives, if the ‘whites’ came down first and joined us to play cards and the ‘coloured’ came down and looked in the door they would go away again. The same would happen it the ‘coloured’ came first.

They were always well mannered and both camps were welcome to any village events we had.

We all had ration books — all fats (butter etc) cheese, tea, sugar, sweets, eggs and jars of jam. All meats — beef, pork, lamb, liver, and sausages were on rations too. Egg Powder was used for cooking also Saccharin’s if not well mixed tasted horrible in custard. When cooking chips and there was not enough fat — a little bi-carbonate soda would be added, but this would make the chips taste a little sour.

Coal was also in short supply as most at this time it came down from Wales. School classrooms were not very warm so sometimes we wrapped up and went walking down through the Kennal Vale Woods (complete with gas mask) and had to write about it the next day, a ‘nature’ kind of lesson. The bluebells and trees were really beautiful there.

Petrol was rationed. Coupons were issued for people to get to work. ‘red fuel’ was issued to farmers for tractors mainly. Checks were often made on motorbikes etc, to make sure they were not using ‘red fuel’.

Black out was another problem, all windows and doors was not allowed to emit any light. Heavy curtains or blankets were hung up at the windows, air raid wardens would patrol around houses after dark to make sure no lights could be seen. It was said even a cigarette light could be seen from German planes. All cars, buses, motorbikes had to have the lights diffused. Metal strips were put across all headlights to cut down the light. All the buses then had conductors to take the fares and ring the bell. A small ‘torch like’ light was attached to the ticket machine. The lights on the bus were very dim; you could hardly find your seat in the dark.

Because of rationing and war threats we hardly went anywhere.

The shops in Falmouth such as ‘Lipton Pearks Home’ and ‘Colonal’ had wood shutters on the windows about 3 ft square of glass to let in light and show what shop it was. The big chapel on the Moor had a direct bomb though its roof and Sunday school, doing a lot of damage and several people who were either injured or killed.

The Cinema Odeon (Now Tesco’s on Falmouth Moor) was fairly full that evening but escaped most of the damage. All the streets around were heavily sand bagged so the sand blew everywhere and took a lot of cleaning away. Few of our village had mod cons, as we had no mains water or sewage systems back then.

The toilet was a shed in the garden. Ours had a galvanised roof, so when it rained heavily or hailed it would clatter nosily in there. Our two little girls would enjoy to go out there and sit on the wooden seat and hear the noise of the rain pounding on the roof.

Metal railings around houses, gardens and chapels and anywhere else, were all taken away for the ‘war effort’ I often still wonder what was done with them.

The was a Munition factory in Camborne but we were never told what was made or being done there.

Junior Civil Defence was very active in Falmouth. Teenage boys and girls would take messages from the police station to the sea front hotels, which had been taken over by our troops. On their bicycles they would have delivered the message by going through the town, or by going down on Bar Road. Back Then — that was the quickest way to get a message through. How different it would be today!

It was well known there were troops in the hotels and the Pentargan was bombed and had a lot of damage. Bananas ertr rarely seen and were only available on Child Green Ration Books.

We had a women’s land army training farm in Stithians. Our little girl’s (Diane) sister came down from London to train as a land girl. Being an office girl was quite a big challenge, to work on the land. She had hardly seen a cow or pig, clean out cow sheds and pigs sties. She was so proud of her emerald jumper, brown hat, brown jodhpurs, emerald socks, and brown brogue shoes she even wore them to church. (That was her ‘best’ outfit).

General Eisenhower from America stayed in the lodge by the Norway Hotel and helped to plan the invasion by the Americans from Cornwall. The Falmouth dockworkers were working on strange crafts they were not told that they were working on crafts that would be involved in the forthcoming invasion by the Americans. Overnight the Americans had gone. In Stithians we heard heavy traffic from Helston to Falmouth all night and didn’t know what was going on. It was the start of the invasion.

Cigarettes were not very plentiful, shops were allocated a monthly allowance. They were players Navy Cut, Kenistas, Black Cat De and Reske Craven A, smaller ones were Star, Robin, Woodbines and Player Weights. Turkish cigarettes usually more easy to find but it was said they were rather hot and spicy.

There were few young men around as most were called up for the services. Some farmers and men in important jobs such as Falmouth Dock workers were exempt. Nurses were called up for service and some women joined the W.A.A.F’s and were involved in plane tracking and canteen cooking.

As bananas were very scarce we boiled up parsnips until soft and mashed them up with a little sugar and banana essence with which to make banana sandwiches. People asked us where we bought the bananas!

We still keep in contact with our little ‘wartime’ children.

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