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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Blitz - As told by Violet to her daughter

by Action Desk, 大象传媒 Radio Suffolk

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Contributed by听
Action Desk, 大象传媒 Radio Suffolk
People in story:听
Heather Andrews (Daughter),Violet Peck (Mother)
Location of story:听
Battersea
Background to story:听
Civilian
Article ID:听
A5652803
Contributed on:听
09 September 2005

I was living in Battersea, London at the time of the start of World war 2 and remember the start of the Blitz. I saw headlines on the news stands stating "Bomb a minute". At the start of the war I was working in Woolworth which I left to go and work at The Army & Navy Stores which was a grocery provider. Whilst working there as an order clerk I can remeber taking orders for the household supplies from Winston Churchill's housekeeper. Later I was seconded from this job to work in the Ministry of Supply which was dull work and involved contacting contractors for supplies for making armaments, such as fuses for bombs and land mines. Whilst working there I had a wage rise of 6 shillings (30p) which was held over until after the war was finished and I did not recieve until some 20 years later!
Despite the raids I chose not to sleep in the underground and carried on working during the daylight raids as these were considered a nuisance rather than a threat. Early one Saturday morning I was walking across Clapham Common and watched an Ariel dog fight against a clear blue sky. Also remebered were the trams with people crammed in and hanging on for dear life! Food rationing was more of a nuisance than the bombing!!
I married the boy next door in November 1942 and flowers were hard to find as all the trains which brought flowers from the West Country were stopped so they could be used instead for troop movements. Due to the rationing I had only enough clothing coupons for underwear and a new dress and jacket. The wedding breakfast consisted of luncheon meat and liver sausage sandwiches, sardines on toast, tinned fruit someone had hoarded, and a sparingly fruited cake with marzipan icing.

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