大象传媒

The feeling that the park had been taken away from me still remains with me today. I remember standing at the top of a flight of stairs that led down to the lower half of the park, where I had been pushed around in my pram since a baby.

The parks had been taken over by people who had been allocated a small patch of land. The swings and roundabout had disappeared and there was not a blade of grass to be seen. Rickety fences made from orange boxes, old bed ends and wire and twine crazily laced together were used to work out the 鈥淏oundaries鈥�. That was the last time we played in the park until the war鈥檚 end, as there was a grumpy old man patrolling to keep children away from the patchwork of tiny gardens.

Because of the shortage of food, all able-bodied people were encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables. A sea of cabbages grew in defiance of wartime. Old men worked in shirt-sleeves. And I can remember woman holding babies while trying to bend to do some task or other.

Maureen Black via Dundee Central Library

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