大象传媒

When war was declared in 1939 I was living in Gainsborough Road, Great Barr, in the house we had bought new when Wilfred and I married 5 years previously. Wilfred was very keen on gardening and had designed and made the garden himself. There was an ornamental pond and a rockery and now we had an Anderson shelter with steps down to the entrance and earth on top.

Wilfred was over 30 and in a reserved occupation. The factory where he worked was a pressworks making metal parts for all kinds of customers. The firm had been started in Aston, Birmingham, by Wilfred鈥檚 father and uncle at the beginning of the twentieth century. During the war the nature ol the business changed to making munitions. He brought home quantities of tiny bullets which I counted and put into bags. This was my 鈥渨ar work鈥� and after the war I received a certificate from the Lady Mayoress of Birmingham acknowledging my efforts.

Wilfred had volunteered as a firewatcher and was out quite a lot at night at various locations around the city. He told me to go down the shelter when the sirens sounded. Our neighbours, Mr and Mrs Clark and their small son used to share our shelter. One night when I was alone in the house except for the dog (a Scottish terrier called Sally) when I heard the air raid siren. I picked up Sally and headed down the garden. It was pitch dark I tripped over something; the dog shot out of my arms and I went into the pond. I found Sally and went down the shelter in my dripping clothes and stayed there until the all clear sounded some hours later.

During the war Wilfred decided we should move further out of Birmingham because of the bombing and we bought a semi-detached house on the Chester Road in Streetly (then Staffordshire). This would have been in 1941 or 42. Wilfred had a petrol allowance due to his war work and therefore was able to travel to work by car. I had a bicycle for local use.

At Streetly we had a big garden and were able to grow vegetables and fruit. There were apple trees, cookers and eaters, plums, damsons and fruit bushes such as blackcurrants and gooseberries. We also grew raspberries and strawberries and rhubarb. We did a lot of preserving when there was a gut of produce. We salted down runner beans in kilner jars and bottled fruit. I also made jam though I don鈥檛 remember how I obtained the sugar.

We kept hens for their eggs. The work was shared with our next door neighbours, Norton and Bessie Farrington. When some the hens passed their laying age we thought we should kill a couple to eat. Norton and Wilfred set off to kill them but returned shame-faced, unable to do the deed. They had to get the butcher to do it.

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This story was contributed by Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service, Solihull Libraries by kind permission of the original contributor's daughter. It was originally contributed to Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service's collection in 2005 (Ref: NC Solihull Historical: Reminiscences 2005/18).

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