大象传媒

I was only 7 in 1939 when war was declared -but I still remember that day when all my family sat listening to the news on an old radio, and the Prime Minister, Mr Neville Chamberlain announced that Britain was now at war with Nazi Germany!

Little did I know of the sacrifices that we would all have to make during those terrible, long, dark 6 years.

The air-raids seemed to start almost immediately and we were warned by the awful sound of the siren, telling us that enemy aircraft were approaching our Country.

Every household had been issued with blackout material and had to have curtain made for all the windows, so that no lights were visible - street lighting was turned off, so we were plunged into darkness. Everybody was given a gas mask, which we had to carry with us wherever we went - in actual fact no gas was ever used during that war. Babies had their own special ones which looked like a carry cot.

The Government started to evacuate all those children who were most at risk - all areas along our coast and those living near the munition factories and places where bombs would probably be targetted. I was not parted from my family, but my husband was, as he living near the big industrial estate of Trafford Park. It must have been a very frightening experience to be suddenly taken to live with strangers and not understand why.

Nearly every family in our street had a family member who went off to fight- and a lot of them never came back. My own brother was only 17 when he joined the army and was wounded at the battle of El Alamein in Italy. His foot was shattered by shrapnel and we walked with a limp from then on. He was invalided out of the army and given a war pension. With all our eligible men going off to fight, it was left to the women of our Country to form the work force - or join the forces and work for the Ministry of Defence. There were women in the Land Army, put on farms all over the land, growing food etc and in the factories, which had been taken over by the Government to make the planes, ships, tanks and artillery needed desperately for our men. My Dad had an allotment, as we had not garden at our terraced house. He grew all our vegetables, which were much needed to feed a big family, I had 4 sisters and a brother then.

Hardly anyone had a TV in those days, so we went to the local cinemas a lot, where we saw all the news about the progress of our troops and what was happening on all the fighting fronts. Most of the Countries in Europe, if they didnt comply, were over-run and occupied by the German forces. So our small island stood practically along, trying to fight off the tyranny and retain our freedom - the Colonies sent men and supplies to help in our struggle, men from Australia, Canada, New Zealand all joined forces- but it was the determination of our people which all the historians say really pulled us through those dark days of war.

The air-raids got worse, as the war dragged on. Even the Town Hall in Sale was badly damaged in a bombing raid - I well remember that night, in the communual shelter will all our neighbours, watching the sky lit up with the gunfire and the noise of the bombs exploding all around us - it was very, very frightening for all the children of my generation.

Then there was the "rationing" to contend with. Nearly all supplies of food during the war, was sent to our armed forces, so everying was in short supply. The Government issued every person with a "ration book" which contained all the necessary coupons for the weekly allocation of each commodity. The different shops - grocers, butchers, greengrocers, etc. would then have to remove the coupons for the amount of food your were buying. The weekly ration was not very much, so my Mother had to make meals for her family out of very little - you learned very quickly not to compalin aobut any meal put on the table - or you just went hungry if you refused to eat it! Sweets and chocolate were also rationed and we also had to queue up at the local greengrocers shops if we heard that they had received a supply of fruit.

A lot of people started to keep chickens /poultry to give them a supply of eggs - any surplus could be swapped with friends and neighbours for their cheese or butter ration. I still have a ration book which I keep, to remind me of those terrible dark days of World War Two. But we got through it.
Everything was in short supply, including clothes. All the clothing factories were instructed to make uniforms for our troops, and keep them supplied will all they needed for all the different weather conditions. I can remember knitting socks, with this white oily wood, for our men in the navy.

I remember when D.Day occured and we finally invaded Normandy, France. I was 13 when peace in Europe was finally declared - the memory of that night on the 7th May 1945 is also something I will never forget. V.E. day had arrived at last, we all did our utmost to celebrate. There were street parties in every town in UK with flags and bunting flying everywhere. I can remember us all crowding around Sale Town Hall Square, when the street lights were again switched on and the local brass bands all struck up with "Jerusalem" and "There'll always be an England" it was magical. The music and dancing went on all night, and I was there!

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