大象传媒

My father still had his allotment at Barnes, as he had said that it was of a great help to him and the family in the War. He grew all varieties of vegetables that was very beneficial to everyone during the rationing in the War. It was in September 1940, when he was at his allotment, when he heard the sound of aircraft. He looked up and he could the British and the German planes, having dog fights in the skies. One could always learn how many German and British aircraft were shot down. At times, there were more women around than men.

My father had thought that the Government had kept a lot of the information and news off the radio and the Press. The newspaper were only allowed to print what they had been told, this was considered to be quite understandable.

There must have been many deaths from the bombing. At the later end of the War, the firm, that my father had worked for, took on bomb clearance, and when any valuables was found, they had to be handed in. One man, that had been working with my father, had found a tin box. They broke it open and found that the jewellery had melted the metal and the gems. The Police was called and they took the box away.

Families that had been bombed out, all of their furniture was put into store for safe keeping. Then when they had been found alternative accommodation, they then went to reclaim their furniture, but some of the furniture was not there and it was missing.. The Police was then called in to investigate the missing furniture.

The river traffic that used Old Father Thames, transporting goods and materials on the Thames, that run from Brentford all way up to Middlesex. How my mother had to queque to buy her rations, sometimes she waited for hours and then there might be no food to have. They must have been living on the bread line. Food was available, if you had the cash to buy it on the Black Market. Or if you had anything that you could sell such as jewellery, to be able for you to buy food.

There was not a lot of bombing carried out over Mortlake, Barnes or the Richmond area. But the Docklands and London itself was bombed very heavy, and it was the night raids which were the worst, with the search lights and the Anti aircraft guns, it was impossible to get any sleep.

On the Mortlake Green recreation ground, where we as teenagers used to play a game of football or cricket. This now was full of coal, the Coal merchants Firmstone had control of this coal. A man by the name of Suk Piper, drove for another Coal Merchant by the name of Tommy Sharp. When Tommy Sharp had permission to remove one lorry load of coal, Piper always made sure that he would remove five or six lorry loads, but tell Firmstone that he had only taken one load. he always saw that Sharps customers had coal throughout the winter.

The way that my parents and other friends spoke about the War on the Home Front, it must have been very hard going. Some families had rabbits or chickens for their eggs. The rabbits were killed for food. The families that lived in West Road helped each other as much as they could. Whenever they met, whilst out shopping, if any of the butchers had any offal off the rations, the word quickly got around, even the jelly from a large tin of ham helped to make a meal.

The later part of the War, my mothers brother, Jim would send her 2 pounds of tea from a Company in India. This helped out a lot, because of the shortages. The people always made sure that their grandchildren had food. At Christmas time, my sister, so my mother had said, would walk the streets just to get food and toys for her children for Christmas. I did hear that a man by the name of Ronny Fairs and some other men of the area were out in the Pacific ocean with the American Fleet, fighting the Japanese Navy. Ronny's mother must have been very proud of her son. Ron's brother drowned in the River Thames, when he must have been only 6 years old.

Those nights throughout the early part of the war must have been very frightening for the people that was left at home, not knowing what was happening to their loved ones that was in the Services and then having to work with very little sleep, due to the air raids. The doodle bugs, not knowing where they were going to land, some had been shot down, but some did get through. It was a very dirty War for those at home in England.

It was said that the Prime Minister,Mr Churchill, the King and Queen did visit the people after some of the bombing raids. In the Jolly Gardeners public house, I met a Mr Jim Warren, he was visiting his son. Throughout the War, he had sailed in some of the Merchant Ships, that had been ferrying food and supplies to England. He said that at sea in the War years, had been hell on earth. You could be sunk at any time and he admitted that he had prayed every day. He was one of the lucky ones, his ship had been hit but it did not sink, so he had been one of the lucky ones, to have come out of the War alive. Merchant Navy men had lost their lives because of the War and he did say that the Royal Navy and other Navies of the World did a great job by the sinking of many U-Boats. Jim Warren did not agree with the use of any under water craft, he said that you could not fight what you could not see. But then again, the Nazis used every dirty in the book. At first, they looked untouchable. Had our Government used their money wisely, instead of penny pinching, our Forces would have stood a far better chance than they did in 1940.

The Home Guard,, that was formed in Barnes and Mortlake, there was two retired Army officers which took on the role to sort out fifty men for the Home Guard. They had to report to the Pavillion in Richmond Park in Surrey. The Officers interviewed all of the volunteers and then from these men, fifty were then picked to go into the Home Guard. The remainder of the men that was not picked, had been told that they could be recalled at a later date, as they now had the number of men that they required.

There were a lot of rumours going around and being told and you can believe them if you want, but there were men working in Watneys Brewery, that had not been called up for the War, but they had to watch what they said or they would find themselves in the Services. Bill Meachen was a rather outspoken man, he did not give a damn, he had too much chat. He was called up for the Armed Forces, he enjoyed his time in the Army but after the War, he quit his old job and went back on to building work for Watneys.

One did not learn very much from my mother or my sister. By all acounts of my sister, after she lost her husband in the War, she had a good old time enjoying herself. One night, my mother had waited up until she came home and when my sister got in, my mother was sitting in the kitchen, in her white nightdress and as my sister opened the door my mother called out to her "What have you been up to?" My sister, not expecting this, she must have sh.. herself! She received a right telling off from her mother.

Some men were never called up, because each time that they received a document telling them to report forservice, they used to say that they could not go as their wives were going to have a baby.

When told about the food rationing, it was not enough to feed a working man, but what could they say. My parents never had a rasher of bacon during the War. Their ration of bacon was streaky bacon, which had been minced up, and then you placed it in the oven and run it down for fat. When you had cooked this you tipped it into a basin and put it on a baked jacket potato or used it on toasted bread or just as a spread. But there were always shortages. But my father's two brothers used to try to help the family. One of the brothers named Charlie lived at Egham, his son would pass my family home twice a month. The other brother, named Ern lived out at Purley in Surrey. He and his son worked on a farm, so they were able to get flour, eggs and also vegetables. Ern also had his own chickens in his back garden. Charlie had pigs at the bottom of his garden. My father had wanted to return to live in the country but my mother had been brought up to town life and she thought that she would be out of place living in the country. I think myself,it was her friends and her neighbours that lived near by and she would have missed them, because they would help each other if it was needed. When you went shopping, before the War, my mother would always look for the cheapest, when money was short in those days. The women never had a purse full of money for shopping. A man's wage would be 拢2.10 shillings or 拢3.10 shillings a week. There was no money for any luxuries. The Pawn shops used to do a lot of business because you used to pawn the old mans suit or pocket watch on a Monday and then on Friday, when it was pay day you then went and collected the old mans suit for the weekend. (the old man would either be the father or the grandfather of the family). Bt these were the good old days as before the War, beer was 4 pence a pint, cigarettes such as Woodbines or Weights, 4 pence, Player were 6 pence and if you went to the pictures or cinema this was 6 or 9 pence, which was up in the Gods at the Palace at Hammersmith and the theatre was 3 pence. Those were the bad old days, but you could enjoy yourself, believe you me and there was no Welfare State as you have today.

I very often dream of those far off days,when people were more sociable. They were never in a hurry, the War changed all of that. Before the War, we used to leave our front doors open, you never locked them. We also had respect for the Police and for all road users and lorry drivers. They were more courteous then, than todays drivers, today, they all want to be first. The term of Joy riders had never been heard of, in those days you enjoyed your leisure time. Such as a weekend break, it did not cost the earth, even the Bank Holidays were enjoyable. You could go and visit a fair ground and that did not cost the earth, a lot different today with their prices. Then when you were going home you would buy some fish and chips at 3 pence and you would eat them out of wrapped newspapers. So much tastier than todays fish and chips.

People did call them the bad old days, but life was much more enjoyable then. If you had 5 shillings in those days, you had a lot more fun that you could have today. Now you would have to have your Bank manager with you to be able to afford any kind of luxury.

The War of 1939/1945 took all of those enjoyable times away. Today, what with the amount of Income Tax plus all of the hidden taxes that we pay. The dinosaur, that the Labour Government had introduced in 1948 has killed off those enjoyable days of yesteryear. One could say that this is questionable, I never returned to service life but it took me a long time to settle in civvy street.

I did keep in touch with some of the men that I had served with and I remained with the London Council for 32 years and when I retired in 1983 I had attained the position of Assistant Cleansing Superintendent.

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