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I was ten years old when the war broke out. We lived in Southwater and my strongest recollection is the sweet rationing! We were allowed a quarter-pound of sweets a week, and when they were gone, that was it.

So what my sister and I used to do to make our sweet ration go further was to buy a tin of Zubes, a cough sweet that wasn’t rationed. Then we’d get our mother’s bottle of Eno’s Fruit salts — a fizzy powder — and we’d sprinkle some over our Zubes. It was our makeshift Sherbet Dab! (I think they’re called Sherbet Fountains now).

The only trouble was, Eno’s Fruit Salts were medicinal. In fact they were a laxative — we were the healthiest children in the street!

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Steve Gothard on behalf of Betty Straker, and has been added to the site with her permission. Betty fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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