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My mother used to do us rabbit stew, we always used to have rabbits with the skin and head still on in those days; they used to say it might be a cat otherwise, didn’t they. On a Sunday we always used to have roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings. Before we could have the dinner, we used to have the Yorkshire pudding, a little round Yorkshire pudding bursting with gravy. If we didn’t eat all of that we couldn’t have any dinner; my father wouldn’t let us and you’d sit there till you ate it. If you left anything you had to eat it the next day — no, you couldn’t waste anything in them days.

On VE day they were all in Queens Gardens, all in their hats on and what have you. We had Jubilee Day as well, but I preferred VE day. There were sailors and solders and what have you on Queens Gardens; it was packed, they were all drinking and dancing and singing I was about 20 and we had a right time, drinking beer and joining in and we went with a couple of sailors around a frigate that came in on Alexander dock. I didn’t do any drinking because I didn’t like beer, I only tried it the once, 3d a gill* it was from the beer shop on Hedon Road, I never drank it again.

*Note
3d is equivelant to 1.25p and there are 4 gils to a pint, making the cost of beer 5p a pint. It is also worth noting that beer would have been substantially stronger than it is today.

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Transcribed by Alan Brigham - www.hullwebs.co.uk

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