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I am a 75 year old Grandmother living in a small Village 8 miles outside the City of Sheffield, during the War I lived here with my parents.

The date was September 3rd 1939, War had been declared between England and Germany, it was my Birthday, I was 9 years old.

I remember this day very well, it was just 11am on Sunday morning, our Radio was on and all my family (my Mother, Father, Brother and Sister) were sat around the table listening to this devastating news. I was the youngest, I did not realise what was happening. My Mother was crying because my Brother would have to go into the Forces.

The Siren would sound when there was an air raid. I had to get out of bed, get dressed and scurry into our shelter with my Mother, she was so afraid. Yet it was fun to me, I didn’t know the dangers of War.

During the Sheffield Blitz I was with my Mother, that night stands out in my memory. My Mother and I were going to have a treat and go to the pictures that night to see Shirley Temple. Before we went to the cinema we visited an Auntie who lived nearby, after leaving her house the sirens rang. We went into an Air Raid shelter and were there all night. The Bombs dropped all around us killing many people and reducing buildings to rubble.

When dawn broke the streets were littered with bodies, buildings and homes had been bombed to the ground, it was a horrible night. Subsequently there were no trams or buses running, so my Mother and I walked home from Sheffield to our home in Swallownest, we were dirty, tired and hungry — we had no food or drink all night.

My Brother was in the Army by this stage, he was posted to Germany and my Mum was ill with worry for him. Our food was rationed, we only had a small quantity of Tea, Sugar and Tinned milk; we received no fresh fruit but had dried bananas instead. My Mum always cooked as there were 8 of us, she made stew, oxo’s and baked bread. In comparison we received a decent meal each day. The stew was Mutton, very little mutton but plenty of vegetables, my Dad grew them, our meals were filling and wholesome.

During the War women worked in Factories but if they had families they stayed home to look after their Children and the home. It was plain living, no television, no phones, no electric lights — but we had warmth and Love. There were no luxuries and little clothes due to rations, we made do with what we had.

Because we were not wealthy we had newspaper in our shoes when they wore holes in, we could not buy any more. They say they were the good old days, even with the War I believe people are more stressed today than they were then.

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